The 3rd International Superyacht Summit has been rescheduled for November

With just 8 coronavirus infections recorded in the Gulf state of Qatar to date, the organisers of the seventh edition of the Qatar International Boat Show (QIBS 2020) plan to go ahead with their small local event from March 18-21 at The Pearl Marina in Doha.

In contrast, and not surprisingly following the cancellation of the Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS 2020) last Sunday, the third edition of the International Superyacht Summit, which was due to run from March 11-12, has been postponed until November 25-26, 2020 to run alongside the rescheduled DIBS 2020.

In a statement, the Summit organisers said: “In light of the growing concerns over the Covid-19, and after thorough evaluation of the situation with the feedback from speakers and sponsors, many of whom are not prepared to travel at this time, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the International Superyacht Summit 2020 from March 11-12 to November 25-26, 2020.”

“The selection of the new dates has been done in alignment with the Dubai International Boat Show, now postponed to November 24-28, 2020. We intend to maintain the same venue and programme planned for March 11-12,” the statement added.

As to the Qatar show, a spokesman told IBI: “The seventh edition Qatar International Boat Show (QIBS 2020), which is scheduled to be held at The Pearl Marina in Doha on March 18-21, is still planned to be held. We have not postponed the Qatar International Boat Show. We do not have any infections in Qatar and we will shortly start to lay out the stands for the show.”

Compared to DIBS, the Qatar show is a small regional show. In fact, its website only currently lists seven exhibitors, of which two – Nobiskrug and Imperial Yachts – are international companies. Imperial Yachts was set to play a key role in both shows by exhibiting the largest yacht which had ever attended both DIBS and QIBS, namely the 106.1m (348ft) Amadea, built by Lürssen.

An Imperial Yachts spokeswoman told IBI: “We are discussing our plans at the moment but cannot communicate any information. We will issue information as need be in the future.”

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