Partner and manager of two marinas in Mallorca for 15 years Oscar has been designer and consultant for marina projects in various countries, and designer of customized marina elements. He has shared his experience through more than 30 conferences in 12 countries and has written numerous articles for Marina World and other international nautical magazines. Oscar is a Certified Marina Professional, was founder director of the Global Marina Institute, member of ICOMIA’s Marinas Committee, member ofPIANC Recreational Marine Committee, Convenor of ISO TC228 WG8“Yacht Harbours”, member of the Global Marine Business Advisers (GMBA) group and founding member of the Asia Pacific Superyacht Association.
Extreme exclusivity comes at a cost, and for those attending Monaco Yacht Show to do business the price increases year on year. But the strategy sought this year by the show’s organizers has caused me to question whether it’s a greater price than we realise.
It is in the air from mid-August. Companies start dedicating the time needed to straighten out their Monaco Yacht Show logistics. Hotels are booked, with prices beyond reach. For those with experience, and lodging outside Monaco to cut the budget, transportation and timing must be organized carefully to avoid hours lost waiting in car queues trying to negotiate the three entrance roads to the Principality.
This is not new, it has been like this for a while, and I criticize the organization for not organizing shuttles to those few locations to ease the car traffic. Similar problems arise with METS, it is impossible to get a taxi in the morning, but the organizers make a clear campaign that encourages the use of public transport, with passes and route information made readily available. But METS is not MYS, and Amsterdam is not Monaco.
Extreme exclusivity is a price to be paid in more than one way. The event’s exclusivity ranks highly, or even the highest, worldwide. There are two types of people paying the fee: The traditional exhibitors – they belong to Monaco Yacht Show – they are there either for business or because they cannot be absent and risk wrong assumptions from a scrutinising industry. And the new exhibitors, many times spending more money than would be advisable and hoping to be seen as belonging to the big league.
Monaco Yacht Show has always been, until Informa took over, a vital yacht show that caters for the sales and charter market, with exhibitors displaying various services inherent to the trade. Sometimes there were indeed too many ‘non-interesting’ visitors walking around and making the natural flow of people difficult. In answer to that, entrance invitations were limited, and higher price day tickets (€150) instated. And thus the pontoons and the beautifully dressed hostesses of the leading brokerage houses could display their elegance, good looks, and the height of their high heels more comfortably.
The large cars at the service of broker’s clients only added to the traffic with their super-exclusive load. But an image is an image. And, at this time, the Yacht Club de Monaco was still off-grounds for visitors not escorted by a member.
This year, the price of a single-day ticket stood at €600 and four-day pass was over €1300. Those who wanted to enter the show needed, desperately, an invitation. I was lucky to get one from Astilleros de Mallorca. My only chance to visit was September 27th, as I was flying back to Palma on the 28th.
I filled out the Show’s application form, went to the badge issuing booth at 10:00 and waited, and waited, and kept on waiting whilst everyone before me had their problems with registration attended to. I wonder if it was part of the strategy, to make regular guests feel that they were not truly welcomed, or whether it was plain lousy organisation. I was issued my badge with the warning that it was valid only for the tent exhibitors, not for the docks where the yachts resided.
With this additional rejection loaded on my shoulders, I headed towards the tents, greeted people I knew well and made a couple of interesting new contacts. The hype was high, and the exhibitors were searching for someone really worth greeting, like low-light lighthouses sweeping the horizon. Pathetic behaviour among the new players, more discreet assessment from the older ones. And good, but basic, security at the entrances and throughout the Show.
I was refused access to the boats and pontoons because my invitation was a limited one. The same happened to members of The Islander magazine even with their Press accreditation. It hurt a bit, I’ll admit, but becoming so exclusive has tolls to be paid on top of the entrance tickets.
I greeted people that I see often in Mallorca or at international meetings of the industry, and I felt sad about not being able to greet and converse with industry acquaintances from the brokerage, shipyard, and management branches – people I have met at Monaco Yacht Show and annually connected with for the last 30 years. Sadly, I must compare this separation with Israel’s West Bank Wall, it set a social difference and it set a divide. First class, second class.
It seems the exclusivity did not deter the vittima della moda, however, as Gianni Versace would say, with the fashion victims out in force. Those perfection-seeking creatures have been part of the large yachting scene since the 80’s, just as the voluptuous girls in the boxes remain part of the F1…
I completed the limited circuit I was allowed to, and left the Show bound for the Yacht Club de Monaco where the Smart Marinas event was taking place. The Club has been exclusive from its very beginning, back in 1953. It still is. By comparison, the process of registering for Smart Marinas, and the way access was controlled, was a delight. It was correct, it was efficient, and it was a human process contrary to the digital-human ways of Monaco Yacht Show. There were no unnecessary category divisions, and the only limitations are the ones that have always existed in the club: some spaces are for members only.
If Monaco Yacht Show has to become an ultra-exclusive paradise with a dedicated aim to cater only for those spending 100 million or more, let be it, maybe this is what the market is asking and who am I to say otherwise. Whilst the Show has every right to be as hyper-exclusive as it wants, with the enforced divide between those who have and have not, or indeed ‘have yachts’, I fear it only serves to widen the gap seen by society. We only have to look at the vandalising of KAOS in Ibiza and Barcelona, to see how society feels. Monaco is a high-security place by its very nature, but nobody wants the Yacht Show to end up a gated state.
