The “Salon Nautic de Paris” opens to the public this Saturday December 4 and until Sunday December 12 inclusive. As usual, it takes place at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center, in the capital. About 650 boats are presented there and more than 770 exhibitors have a stand there, including the Normans. Eleven ports are notably assembled on the “Normandie sur Mer” stand with other companies. It is a key moment for water sports in the region. It reports about 110 million euros per year, according to Normandie Maritime, which brings together professionals in the sector.
An unexpected recovery
The atmosphere is at the party in the stands since these last few months have been particularly good for the sector. The figures are not yet known but all share the same observation summarized by Delphine Lefrançois, General Delegate of Normandie Maritime.
After the lockdowns, people rushed to the boats, they went back to doing a number of water activities and we saw boat sales increase., what makes us happy
Same story with Snip Yatching, a company specializing in the sale of luxury motor boats and based in Ouistreham. “We have already filled our order book for almost two years, it’s unexpected, details Sébastien Seydoux, the manager.
Some uncertainties despite everything
Only shadow on the board, raw materials are starting to run out, as for the automotive sector. The next deliveries could therefore be disrupted. “In the Finnish factory of Targa, one of the boats that I sell, they still have not received the engines so the finished boats are stored without engine and will have to be put back later on the production line when the engines have arrived, explains Sébastien Seydoux, the manager of Snip Yatching.
The resumption of the epidemic is also cringe, but the exhibitors remain positive. “People want to escape and Normandy is perfect for that “, confides Laurent Gaudez, project manager at Normandie Maritime. Since the end of the second confinement there has been a resurgence of interest from boaters in the region, which is a very good thing. ”
On the show, everyone now hopes that visitors will be there, they were around 200,000 three years ago, before the years of Covid and that of the transport strike of 2019.