The Miami boat shows over Presidents’ Day weekend will get a lot bigger, and better, starting in 2022. Say goodbye to Virginia Key; say hello (again) to the Miami Beach Convention Center.
In 2022, the land part of the show will go back to the newly renovated Miami Beach Convention Center, while the water portions will be focused at the Sea Isle Marina and One Herald Plaza, flanking the western portion of the Venetian Causeway in downtown Miami. A superyacht part of the show will be at Island Gardens Deep Harbour on Watson Island.
The show dates are Wednesday, Feb. 16 through Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022.
The on-land show had been at the Miami Beach Convention Center from the late ‘60s through 2015. In 2016, because of renovations at the Convention Center, it moved to the Miami Marine Stadium area on Virginia Key, causing transportation problems on land and on the water. The show was cancelled this year because of the pandemic. Now it will move back to the Convention Center in 2022.
In the past few years, there were three shows. The Miami International Boat Show, run by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, on Virginia Key; the Miami Yacht Show, at the Sea Isle and Herald Plaza locations, and Superyacht Miami, on Watkins Island, all run by Informa, the London-based international exhibition group.
The NMMA and Informa just announced that they have joined forces to produce all the shows in 2022 under the Miami International Boat Show banner. There will be no show at the Virginia Key location.
The different shows, and different ownership, often confused customers, but now, says Andrew Doole, president of U.S. Boat Shows for Informa, “it’s going to be seamless for the consumer.”
The organizers say that the economic impact of the shows next year will be $1.34 billion, or the equivalent of “three Super Bowls,” according to Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the NMMA. Read more:
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/article248426775.html
