Cannes Yachting Festival Report

If you had a choice of the annual boat shows to attend, which ones would you choose?

Yes, you could attend all of them, jet off around the world from February to November and meet the same people time and time again. Or…you could be savvy and look at where your key markets lie and attend those close together, saving on travel, carbon emissions and cost.

SYR is a business that services the larger side of the leisure market and we have long discussed whether to attend Cannes or Southampton shows. In the end, looking at our current and intended customers, Cannes was elected as the more suited venue with Ed dispatched to the event for its duration!

Long mooted as the best show for the mid-size yachting market, Cannes Yachting Festival spans two locations, the Vieux-Port (Old Town) and Porto Canto. One focusses on sailing yachts, the other on motor yachts and tenders, serviced with a shuttle that transfers you between the two.

Not just due to the lovely warm weather, Cannes is one of our favourite shows. It welcomes one of the largest ranges of brands and yachts, is a hotbed for global launches and is full of excellent events inside and out of the show.

With the SYR customer base becoming more international, we had around 25 clients at the show ranging from amphibious tenders to racing sailboats, superyacht brokerage to foiling tech. All welcomed us aboard their various craft to showcase the vessels our placements have designed, built, sold or managed, continuing to evolve our understanding of their businesses and their upcoming projects.

In an impressive show of how the market is performing, every single client of ours released us new projects to work on, ranging from two hires to thirty! Despite global concerns, yachting is thriving!

Alongside servicing the existing network, we were also introduced to a number of new potential clients through some very generous referrals and have been asked to put together packages for recruiting into well established and well known Mediterranean brands. An accolade that can only attest to the quality of service that we offer at SYR, putting our understanding of the customers’ needs at the top of our priorities.

With the show coming to an end, we can safely say that Cannes has yet again been a successful show for us. SYR continues to grow as a brand and we continue to be the choice of many employers in the luxury yachting sector.

Now it’s time for a well-earned rest. With only 8 days until the pinnacle of the yachting calendar, Monaco Yacht Show, we need to prepare!