30 CONFERENCE REPORT
IWMC: a truly international event T
his year’s ICOMIA World Marinas Conference (IWMC), which was held in the RAI Amsterdam
Convention Centre from 17-19 November, was a truly international event. Over 200 marina professionals from 39 countries joined the ninth edition of this prominent travelling conference, the theme of which was ‘Future of marinas in a changing world’. With over 40 speakers representing leading marina organisations from almost every part of the world and an extensive conference programme covering all aspects of the sector, IWMC focused on the future development of marina facilities around the globe. The conference was held in parallel with the METSTRADE exhibition and its dedicated Marina & Yard Pavilion. Organised by the ICOMIA
Marinas Group in partnership with RAI Amsterdam and hosted by the HISWA Holland Marine Industry
Association, the three-day event was opened with a warm welcome by ICOMIA President Jouko Huju and ICOMIA Marinas Group chairman Roberto Perocchio. Geert Dijks, Managing Director of HISWA, then gave a speech highlighting the importance of learning from other industries and business models. “The marina and watersport
market is bigger than we realise,” Dijks emphasised. “Together, we need to invest in promotion in areas where our industry is not yet active in order to reach new
customers and new markets. The ultimate aim is to have more people enjoying more hours on the water,” he concluded, introducing
delegates to the HISWA Welcome to the Water campaign aimed at growing the watersport sector in The Netherlands.
Keynote speech The keynote speaker on the opening day was renowned trend-watcher Adjiedj Bakas, who shared his distinctive vision of the future in an inspiring way. Bakas examined the future of leisure around the world, explaining how the middle class will have less money, but more time thanks to robotisation. He also gave an analysis of
the boating and marina market trends, underlining that people will look for affordable boats with low
Know-how exchange After the opening ceremony was concluded, more than 200 professionals from the marina industry joined various sessions designed to facilitate knowledge and information exchange. The primary areas of focus were on new opportunities in emerging markets, different approaches to marina management, regulations and legislation related to marinas and boating, and the intersections between the public and private sectors.
One of the first-day sessions was
entitled ‘New consumer trends – the share economy’. This showcased
maintenance costs, often sharing them through dedicated systems. Marinas will move from being parking lots for boats to places where people share a community lifestyle. “We have to change the garage into a leisure destination,” he suggested.
Geert Dijks, Managing Director, HISWA Holland Marine Industry Association, urged his audience to “keep smiling” even when things go wrong! MARINA EURO-REPORT • DECEMBER 2016
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