Taylor Swift having finished her Miami dates Oct. 20, the eyes of hoteliers, restaurateurs and barkeeps are on the next mega-event they can count on: The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, an annual Southeast Florida happening that has a greater economic impact than the Super Bowl.
With no Florida city scheduled to host a Super Bowl through at least 2028 — and, what’s more, the FIFA World Cup doesn’t come to Miami until 2026 — filling hotel rooms and eateries falls to the 65th running of the boat show Oct. 30 to Nov. 3. A good deal more affordable than either a Swift show or the Super Bowl at $74 for a two-day ticket, the boat show makes up in volume what it lacks in ticket pricing.
Organizers expect around 100,000 visitors from across the country, Canada, Europe and Latin America, says Andrew Doole, president of the U.S. Boat Shows division at Informa Markets. (The show is owned by the Marine Industries Association of South Florida and produced by Informa.) Those visitors will be met by 30,000 people working for 1,000 exhibitors and vendors.
Attendees buy or gawk at 1,300 vessels from tenders to superyachts — lots of superyachts. Doole expects around 20 vessels longer than 50 meters, including Abeking & Rasmussen’s 257-foot Amaryllis.
“This is the best selection of boats we’ve had since pre-COVID,” Doole says.
Doole says a number of boat manufacturers will debut vessels at the show such as HCB Yachts’ high-performance HCB Suenos GIX 56, the fully electric Sialia Yachts’ Sialia 59 Weekender or the Azimut Seadeck 6 built with hybrid propulsion and “eco-friendly” materials.”
“The beauty of FLIBS is that we provide our guests with access to a wide range of watercraft, from large yachts and center consoles to wave runners, sportfishing boats, and sea bobs, making it possible for everyone to enjoy the water. It's about creating bigger opportunities to connect with family and the ocean," says Phil Purcell, CEO of the Marine Industries Association of South Florida.
In 2022, an estimated $710 million in sales were done at the show by Florida-based businesses.
The show benefits this year from the completion of the renovation of the Las Olas Marina, one of the show’s seven venues, and the reopening by Lake Nona-based Tavistock of its Pier Sixty-Six, site of the Superyacht Village. A Fort Lauderdale icon named for the fuel station that started there dates to the 1960s and underwent extensive renovations.