While the 2023 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show data is still being tally, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis said the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show’s economic impact on the city and surrounding areas is expected to exceed $2 billion, surpassing high-profile events such as the Super Bowl in American football.
The mayor said in an interview that the economic impact of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is more than twice that of the Super Bowl. Everyone knows that the Super Bowl creates huge economic benefits, and it certainly is, but the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is even more economical, sometimes twice as much, or even 2.5 times as much as the Super Bowl. The difference between the two events is that the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is an affordable event that is open to all, noting that the show sold more than 100,000 advance tickets at its start.
The director of the Fort Lauderdale Metropolitan Development Agency said almost half of the boat show attendees came from outside Florida. The economic benefits of downtown are estimated at $35 billion per year. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show creates “thousands of jobs” for the local community, not just during the show, but throughout the year.
The yacht show is attended by many different companies, not only yachts and their related industries, but also hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues. Although inflation has spilled over into Florida. But it’s not as serious as many people say in the national news. Some goods do get higher in price, but this is largely related to supply chain issues rather than production costs.
The capital of the yachting industry is located in Fort Lauderdale. Anywhere in the world, when it comes to Fort Lauderdale, people automatically associate it with the yachting industry. So we’re very proud of this tradition. We will continue to build on that. We are building more marinas in cities for mid-size yachts and superyachts to moor, because we want to make sure that we are sustainable in terms of the yachting industry.
Next year, the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show will celebrate its 65th anniversary, and it is hoped that the yachting industry will make significant progress in environmental protection. We hope you can focus on sustainability, environmental and technological issues, work to improve our relationship with nature, work to minimize pollution, and see how we can eliminate the environmental damage that the yachting industry may have caused in the past.