George Hawkins launched the Providence Boat Show in 1993 with just a single floor of exhibition space at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Now, he says, 13 years later, the show’s 20-percent annual growth has turned the event into a $1 million business for him.
As the boat show sails into town this week, it will occupy all three levels of the convention center and the entire Dunkin’ Donuts Center, offering up new attractions as well as a shot in the arm to the state’s marine industry.
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“It’s a great place [for dealers] to gather new leads, and it’s a great place for new boaters to gather information about what kind of boat they would like to buy,” said Lynn Fiorenzano, president of the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association, whose marina and boat dealership Silver Spring Marine in Wakefield is an exhibitor at the show.
Attendees will find some new features at this year’s boat show, beginning with continuous footage of fishing on a large screen in the Dunkin’ Donuts Center, sponsored by On The Water magazine, said Hawkins, the event’s producer.
Nearby, a new section has been dedicated to charter boat captains, whom novice boat owners increasingly have hired to teach them how to use their new vessels.
Occupying some 240,000 square feet of exhibition space, the show will have 270 marine businesses this year and 158 different boat brands for sale, Hawkins said. It has become a one-stop shop for boaters, as well as dealers, lenders and insurers. The R.I. Department of Environmental Management also will be on hand, with a booth to register boats.
“For instance, you can buy a boat at the show,” Hawkins explained, “and you can go up and register it with the state of Rhode Island. You can find a place to keep it at one of the marina booths, and then you can find a place to insure and finance it.”
Hawkins expects the show to provide a boost to the local economy.
“After people go to the show, they’ll go out to dinner or go to the [Providence Place] mall,” Hawkins predicted, based on his experience during past shows in the city.
Last year, he said, the show drew about 25,000 attendees and 1,700 merchants to the city. Yet with the vast majority of visitors and businesses coming from southern New England, they accounted for about 600 hotel room nights as well.
Though the boat show’s year-round office is in Cape Cod, the event itself invests significant dollars in Rhode Island. Hawkins said he allocated about $140,000 of his $200,000 advertising budget this past year to media outlets in the state, and he plans to spend $60,000 to staff the show.
With the Ocean State’s economy heavily dependent on the marine industry, boat shows such as Hawkins’ are a big deal, primarily because they are where many boat sales originate.
According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association, there were 43,000 boats registered in Rhode Island and $106 million spent on marine retail items here; in Massachusetts, those figures were 156,000 and $302 million.
“Over the last two decades, boat shows usually represent 35 to 50 percent of a boat dealer’s and manufacturer’s annual [sales],” said Ben Wold, executive vice president of the national marine association, adding that many dealers’ total sales are at the higher end of that range. “Boat shows are very valuable and a great sales tool for this industry.”
Larry Russo Sr., owner of Russo Marine, a Boston-area dealer, said his company sold 24 powerboats at last year’s show in Providence. “The benefit for retailers is to get your products before a qualified audience at a time of year when things are relatively slow,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the [Providence] boat show, boat dealers would be doing nothing in January except watching the snow outside.”
Recognized as the largest powerboat dealer in New England, Russo Marine participates in six boat shows per year. Lending credence to the national figures, Russo said about half of his company’s volume comes from leads or sales generated at the shows.
The boat show begins Thursday and runs through Sunday, Jan. 15. Tickets are available at both venues for $10, and children age 12 and under with adults enter for free, according to the event’s Web site.
