Helsinki boat show to fill six halls
By IBI Magazine/Lars-Åke Redéen
The 2009 Helsinki International Boat Show (HIBS) will once again fill all six halls of the Helsinki Exhibition & Convention Centre. Around 300 exhibitors and more than 600 boats, novelties and high-quality boating supplies will be on display next year from February 6-15, 2009.
The upcoming boat show will once again provide consumers with a comprehensive review of the boats the markets have to offer and especially of new models, a wealth of which will be on display.
Companies such as Bella-Boats will be exhibiting the results of their product development work. According to Bella-Boats managing director Raimo Sonninen, the efforts of recent years have produced ever more equipped boats that nevertheless remain agreeable to the wallets of consumers.
"Bella-Boats wants to offer consumer more with respect to all of the three key factors in decision making — price, quality and brand," says Sonninen. "Exhibition visitors can examine a total of 38 boats representing all three of our product brands. In all, we will be exhibiting nine new boat models at our section; this is the largest amount of new models that we have ever brought to the HIBS."
An event that is sure to pique the interest of visitors is the world premiere of Oy Marino's All Purpose Boat (APB). The boat manufacturer will celebrate its 50th anniversary during the 2009 HIBS and will mark its long tradition of boat-making with the launch of this new model.
"The APB is suitable for destination boating and aquatic hobbies, in addition to which it makes a great picnic or fishing boat or a connection craft for the archipelago," says Oy Marino managing director Ben Fagerström. "In spite of this multitude of alternative uses, the aim was to price it as competitively as possible within its own class."
In addition to boats, the show will be displaying products such as engines, trailers, electronics and navigation equipment, boating supplies, clothing and footwear, safety and rescue gear as well as a wealth of services and equipment associated with numerous aquatic activities.
The Finnish Boating Journalists Association will hand out its Boating Act of the Year 2008 award on the opening day of the fair, in addition to which the HIBS jury will announce the candidates shortlisted for the fair's best sailboat and best motorboat awards. This year, the audience will get to pick the winner of the Boating Supply of the Year award from among the products on display at the fair. The winner will be announced on February 14, 2009.
The 2009 Helsinki International Boat Show is being arranged by the Finnish Fair Corporation on behalf of the Finnish Marine Industries Federation Finnboat. The event is now being organised for the 40th time. Volvo Auto Oy Ab continues as the main cooperation partner.
(1 December 2008)
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