2022 Sydney International Boat Show announces first exhibitors

Groups that will have on- and off-water displays include British luxury motor yacht marque Princess Yachts; sailing mono and multihull specialist Performance Cruising Yachts; Beneteau, Amel, Sunpower and Lomac distributor Flagstaff Marine Australia; and Sea Ray and Beneteau distributor Chapman Marine Group, which has also recently taken on Finnish trailerable and day boat brands Flipper, Bella and Falcon.

Other trailer boat brands attending the July 28-August 1 event include Malibu and Axis specialist GRE Marine; and Central Coast Quintrex, Baysport and Crownline distributor Insinc Marine.

Also confirming they will be at the show are marine electronics specialists Garmin and Raymarine, as well as electronics and chandlery group Boating & RV.

The 2022 Sydney International Boat Show will return to Darling Harbour after a two-year absence, the first prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the second by a physical lack of product to put on show as land-locked Australians looked to holiday near where they live – with a boat or jet ski in the driveway – rather than travel overseas.

The look and feel of this year’s show should also change, with the event’s owners, the Boating Industry Association, handing over the running of the show to Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show specialists Mulpha Events.

The event is expected to attract around 240 exhibitors with more than 900 boats on show spread across the on-water display in Cockle Bay and the undercover display at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Mulpha Events is yet to reveal what will be new about the 2022 Sydney International Boat Show format.

The BIA appointed Mulpha to run this year’s show after a review of the event’s format in the wake of the 2020 cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the options it investigated was whether near-new boats should be added to the show’s format to give exhibitors access to a wider range of products to display.

Last year’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show broke attendance records as a combination of significant international reveals and the cancellation of the 2020 event saw boaters return in ever-increasing numbers.

Melbourne will not stage a traditional boat show this year with the Boating Industry Association of Victoria considering its options for staging an event in 2023. It has twice attempted to stage a smaller scaled-down event with an on-water display but has cancelled both due to a lack of boats to exhibit.