This year’s 7th edition of the Korea International Boat Show is expected to start on Thursday, June 12, against a backdrop of a growing boating market.
“Our 6th edition of the show in 2013 was an undoubted success in our new location at KINTEX exhibition centre in the Seoul Metropolitan Area and acclaimed by overseas industry experts and visitors as now one of the three leading boat shows in Asia,” says Governor Kim Moon Soo of the show’s organiser, the Gyeonggi Province Government.
“At the same time we have seen dramatic developments in the development of the Korean leisure boating infrastructure,” he adds. “The National Marina Development Plan has already delivered 17 new world-class marinas providing berths for over 4,200 boats, five more marinas are under construction and a further 21 are planned. Already there are over 14,500 registered leisure boats in use increasing annually by over 2,500. Boat driving license applications in 2012 alone were over 14,000 and since 2008 nearly 69,000 have been issued.”
Running alongside the show, on Friday, June 13, is the sixth edition of the Asia Marine Conference with the theme of ‘Developing strategies for establishing Korea Recreational Boating Safety’.
Hosted by the Gyeonggi Province Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the conference will feature a presentation from James Vaughan on the role of the British Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in coastal safety and local Korean speaker Hwang Jong Woo from the Ministry of Fisheries.
IBI’s Asia correspondent, Mike Derrett, will also make a presentation on the latest global trends in the leisure marine industry and the increasing importance of technology in boatbuilding.
by Mike Derrett
