I cannot pretend I much like Excel as a venue.  Compared to the heady days of Earls Court, it never feels full, and so lacks a certain buzz.  Even allowing for the significant and welcome changes introduced this year, the numbers suggested that these were not sufficient to alter the long term decline in numbers.

Midweek was particularly bad, and the general feelings of those I spoke to during those three days that I was there. was that the Show was primarily servicing the needs of a few large prestigious Yacht Manufacturers, and not those with more modest products, who were finding it increasingly difficult to meet the direct costs of exhibiting, let alone the indirect costs of being away from their Businesses for the week.  Many openly stated that this was their last Show, and others indicated that they would be inclined to “try Liverpool” in the hope that this might yield a better return.

The news that Liverpool has now been cancelled must send a warning note, as it indicates that people are now beginning to run out of advertising spend.  That is self-defeating   Rightly or wrongly, the Show must attract businesses from across the whole industry in order to offer a real family experience, which is increasingly the only way to get families out of their houses and away from their screens, which now so directly compete with conventional promotional activities.

It is one thing to see a product on line, but quite another (and altogether more exciting) experience to see it “for real”.  The worrying thing is that, compared with Southampton, there appear to be a steady decline in the number of small family boats on display, and those that are appear to be increasingly (and disproportionately expensive).  Like the housing industry, if people cannot get on to the ladder in the first place, they are not going to progress up it.

I know Southampton has its faults, but you can at least see real boats and real families buying them, even in these lean times.  It is a shame we will never now know whether Liverpool could have provided a similar opportunity, but one has to wonder how long the Excel experience is going to last.