One year from now, Barcelona will host the America's Cup for the first time, the most important sailing competition on the planet. A fact that will mark from different points of view the 61st edition of the Barcelona International Boat Show, which starts today and will last until Sunday. One of the leading events in the sector in Spain will act as a promotional tool for the historic regatta born in 1851.
At the same time, the coincidence has posed an organizational challenge for the exhibition which is being carried out by Fira de Barcelona with the collaboration of the National Association of Nautical Companies (ANEN).
The president of the Saló Nàutic, Luis Conde, warned this in the presentation: "As a fundamental player in the development of the sector, this year we could not fail to contribute to the promotion and promotion of the America's Cup", he to say. "We will be a connecting bridge between the city and the biggest sailing competition in the world so that visitors can discover the details of the emblematic regatta and share the passion for sailing and the sea", he added.
This translates into activities and talks about the America's Cup. Some will be held at the Port of Barcelona stand, attached to the show. For example, tomorrow there will be a reception and presentation of the participating teams, in which there will be two sailors from each formation and the CEO of the regatta, Grant Dalton.
Entry to the Saló Nàutic will mean a discount at the America's Cup Experience exhibition, the competition's dissemination center located in the old Imax.
In addition, coinciding with the fair, a simulator will be launched that, thanks to technologies such as virtual reality, imitates the experience of sailing with competition boats.
All in all, from the organization of the Saló Nàutic it is expected that the conjunction between both events will lead to an increase in visitors. The aim is to surpass the 50,000 attendees reached last year.
However, the America's Cup has also posed an organizational challenge for the Saló Nàutic. The bases of the teams share the space with the fair, so they have been forced to carry out a new distribution of the spaces. Finally, there will be a total of 22,000 m2 of exhibition space.
In the Old Port there will be 240 exhibitors and 160 boats will be part of the floating display. Twenty will be catamarans. In addition, there will also be eight sailboats nominated for European boat of the year and two fully electric boats.
In fact, electrification, sustainability, innovation and the blue economy will once again be discussed at the Saló Nàutic. Leading brands such as Beneteau, De Antonio Yachts, Jeanneau and Rodman, among others, will be in Barcelona.
