How is the Grand Pavois show positioned in relation to other French boat shows?
The Grand Pavois is an exhibition of enthusiasts. In terms of boats, we exhibit 75% of units between 6 and 10 m and 25% between 10 and 20 m. Our offer corresponds more to the European yachting market since 3/4 of our offer concerns boats under 10 m.
But the Grand Pavois is also an important offer with different themes:
- The multihull area, which this year has become a real multihull village with some forty boats on display
- The Fishing Area, with the Grand Pavois Fishing where there is a gallery of fishing boats, a television set, a fishing village, a no kill fishing competition. We will also have 3 or 5 starred chefs from Relais Château who will participate in the competitions. It is an important and developing area.
- The Gliding and Light Sailing Area to which we attach great importance. We are lucky enough to welcome Charline Picon, this year's godmother, who will do a lot of activities with the children. It is very important for us, because they may be the boaters of tomorrow. Every year we have 1500 SUP, wakeboard or light sailing baptisms.
- Finally, the Espace Patrimoine et Tradition which will be under the spotlight of the new Aquitaine region with more than 20 boats classified as historical monuments. We will also have 2 boats returning from a world tour.
The Grand Pavois is a special show, because we have boats, but also many themes. It is also a place where you can meet service companies, insurance companies and banks.
Compared to other shows, we are very complete, with a very important offer and a lot of animations, which are the strength of the Grand Pavois.
Each year, we have a guest country of honor, but this year, we will focus on a particular theme which is "Protect the oceans" with the help of Saxoprint and WWF France.
The 40 visuals will be exhibited in a 400 m2 hall with animations, quizzes, drawing workshops for children, conferences, projections on sensitive subjects.
We also worked on the charter of the responsible yachtsman which will be distributed to the exhibitors, professionals and the public.
Who is the clientele of the Grand Pavois?
The Grand Pavois offer is important with fishing trips, motorboats, RIBs, sailboats, houseboats, multihulls. In addition, there are rental companies and equipment manufacturers. So we find different types of visitors:
- The one who comes to change his sailing or motor boat
- The first time buyer who wants a RIB or a jet-ski to have a transportable boat at an affordable price
- The one who comes because he wants to rent a boat for his next vacation
- The one who comes for the equipment manufacturers and learns about the new products or a product
- Finally, the youngest who come for the beach and board sports
The offer is so important that we find ourselves with a very wide age range of visitors, from 18 to 70 years old, because we find the whole range. We also find specialized services: maritime affairs, customs, maritime police and people need their advice.
How many boats will be exhibited? Is the distribution between sail and motor still the same?
This year, we will have about 750 boats on display, including about 100 new boats. As far as the distribution is concerned, we are in the same pattern as we have been for the last 10 years, with 60% motor boats, 35% sailboats and 5% other boats.
This year, again, the boats will be able to be tried out, since this is one of the specificities of the Grand Pavois. The pontoon has been enlarged and the outings will take place a little earlier in the day (around 5:30 pm for the boats in the marinas) to compensate for the late opening of the show in the season.
To come back to this late opening, why did you shift the dates of the show?
We shifted the date of the show, because we are constrained with the tides. But we cannot make the show with big tides or coefficients too low, we need an average coefficient. So every 5 or 6 years (according to the cycles of tides), we shift our dates.
So either we did it before, but we found ourselves in front of Cannes and given the economic situation today it would have been complicated for all the professionals (sales teams and exhibited boats) and so we were forced to do it late.
It has nothing to do with the Southampton boat show, even though it is taking place this weekend and will therefore be finished on the dates of the Grand Pavois. We hope to attract English customers. But the show always falls during the Southampton show.
Last year you had 130 more exhibitors, this year the show is getting even bigger?
This year, we will again have 800 international brands present, 35 countries represented. In terms of number of exhibitors, we are at the same level, but we are still looking for development. There is a high turnover, so every year we compensate with new exhibitors.
