Valencia Boat Show Gets a Reboot

The Valencia Boat Show has already confirmed that it will be held from the 30th of October to the 3rd of November 2019 in Valencia Marina, with an expanded and renewed offer, incorporating free entry areas, and new exhibition areas dedicated to sectors such as innovation, training and sustainability.

The Union of Nautical Companies (UEN), the association responsible for the organisation of the Valencia Boat Show with Valencia Marina, has appointed a new management team for the event, which for the first time, will operate independently to the board of directors of the association, which is made up entirely of nautical women entrepreneurs, who will participate in this and other relevant projects for the sector.

New director Nacho Gómez Zarzuela

Amongst the first actions carried out by the new management team of the UEN is the election of a new director for the Valencia Boat Show, a position that for the first time will be separated from that of the president of the Union of Nautical Companies, which is an important step towards the professionalization of the show. The person in charge of the event for 2019 will be the journalist Nacho Gómez-Zarzuela, who is an expert in the nautical and competitive sailing sector, following 21 years at the Marca newspaper, twelve of them in charge of the newspaper’s sailing section and having been the press officer in Spain for the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Gómez-Zarzuela will launch an ambitious project, which will revolve around the sale of new boats and new features of the year, services, engines and accessories, which has been the key to the success of the show in the last three years, but with important new features, such as the expansion of activities and sections of culture, and gastronomy, and the incorporation of a specific area dedicated to the offer of water sports such as paddle surfing, windsurfing, diving, fishing, or kayaking, amongst others.

“The Valencia Boat Show is an irresistible project because of the incredible possibilities it has. A boat show that is held in one of the most privileged environments in the world and has a huge potential that makes it one of the finest challenges in the sector,” says the new director of the event.

Revamped project

The manager of the UEN, Valencia Marina, and the director of the event are already working on the new project of the show that is committed to open spaces, free access to the public during the five days of exhibition with an offer of nautical innovation, sustainability, training, leisure and culture, in order to attract a greater number of visitors. Another of the objectives of the event is to attract national visitors, especially from Madrid, and international visitors, boosting nautical tourism in Valencia.

“We are taking up this challenge with the hope of incorporating new initiatives to the event, requested in large part by the sector, by exhibitors and visitors, whom we must listen to in order to come up with a Valencia Boat Show that represents us,” says Isabel Gil, new president of the UEN and member of the management team of the event.

New innovation section

The director of Consorcio Valencia 2007, the managing body of Valencia Marina, Vicent Llorens, highlights the strong involvement in the event this year of all the businesses located in the marine compound, gastronomical and nautical, as well as accelerators, launchers and entrepreneurs that contribute to define the Marina as an innovation district. “The nautical 4.0 is definitely mooring in the next edition of the Valencia Boat Show, which will be consolidated as a benchmark for innovation in the nautical sector,” says Llorens.

From the 30th of October to the 3rd of November

The boat show will once again take advantage of the bank holiday on November the 1st, which usually coincides with a pleasant climate, allowing visitors to enjoy the exhibition outside Valencia Marina, an exhibition area of more than 16,000m2, of which 4,000 are covered in the newly renovated Tinglado No. 2. In addition, the facilities of the Valencia dock allow sea trials with the boats on display, which is a powerful incentive for potential buyers of boats, making the Valencia Boat Show one of decision and purchase.

The accessibility of Valencia and its marina, which has a courtesy pier for visitors to the event and the city, also allows boat users to visit the event by sea.

The Valencia Boat Show will be present next week at FITUR with Valencia Marina, to announce the new project of the event for 2019.

**Photo credit: Vicent Bosch/Valencia Boat Show