Palma today sees the closure of its 27th Boat Show, with figures that clearly reflect the crisis the sector is suffering, although which also show signs for optimism as the numbers are very similar to those of last year, taking into account that this Show incorporated one day's holiday less. In spite of everything, the Show has welcomed more than 33,000 visitors who have not only shown interest in the products and novelties on display, but who have also had the opportunity of participating in activities organised at the Exhibition Site. As an example, there have been conferences, courses, presentations and J80 regattas, which have considerably improved the Show's annual offer and pave the way for all these activities to be continued in the future. The typical visitor profile is someone who is highly interested in the products displayed and who has generated a significant volume of business for subsequent transactions.

With regard to the survey carried out amongst exhibitors, 70% of the total of questionnaires collected indicate that they are interested in participating in the 2011 Boat Show, 8% don't want to participate, and the remaining 22% are undecided. Amongst those who responded that they would participate next year, 74% wanted the same space, whilst 24% wanted a bigger space, and the remaining 2% wanted a smaller space.

At midday today, Chema Sans, Director of the Boat Show, together with Yago Feliu, President of the Balearic Sailing Federation, awarded the prize to Carlos Espinosa's Iurisnauta and crew, champions of the J80 Exhibition Regatta. The regatta was immensely popular, both amongst the actual yachtsmen and women as well as the organisers and will almost certainly be included again in future Shows.

Next year's Palma Boat Show will take place at the Moll Vell from 30th April to 8th May 2011