“The Korea International Boat Show Is Gearing Up!”
(Published April 6, 2012)

Gyeonggi Province held a progress report meeting on the 5th Korea International Boat Show on April 6.

◇ On April 6, a progress report meeting on the 5th Korea International Boat Show was held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex with the participation of the leaders of each team of the show secretariat and some forty people in charge of supporting departments. ⓒ G-News Plus, Yu Je-hun

The Korea International Boat Show is here again!

The 2012 Korea International Boat Show, which is hosted by Hwaseong City and Gyeonggi Province and sponsored by KINTEX and KOTRA, will be held for five days from May 30 to June 3 in the vicinity of Tando Port, Ansan City, and Jeongok Port, Hwaseong City.

On April 6, a progress report meeting on the Korea International Boat Show was held at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government Complex with the participation of the leaders of each team of the show secretariat and some forty people in charge of supporting departments, including Vice Governor of Economy Lee Jae-yul and Assistant Governor for Economy & Investment Jeon Seong-tae.

The participants shared information about the progress of the preparations for the boat show and yachting competition, and discussed ways of increasing visitor participation as well as the implementation of convenience and safety measures.

Vice Governor of Economy Lee Jae-yul said, “I was involved in the preparations for the boat show while serving as Assistant Governor for Economy & Investment, and we are already hosting the fifth show.” He added, “When I visited the site, several moorings had already been built and many other changes were apparent. We are doing our best to stage a well-prepared event”.

This year’s Korea International Boat Show will include various water and athletic programs. It will also strengthen cooperation with several developed marine countries and aims to attract businesses and buyers. In particular, rather than focusing solely on boats and yachts, this event will be held as a complex product exposition.

To that end, the event will diversify its range of exhibition items by including fishing and scuba diving products in addition to boats and yachts, and increase visitors’ interest by installing photo zones and interior hands-on activity zones.

The event will include an four-day open session consisting of specialized conferences designed to emphasize the strong points of the various Asian regions as well as seminars by the participating businesses and lectures on sea fishing and methods of acquiring boat licenses, among others.

The event organizers aim to strengthen cooperation with the marine associations of developed marine countries such as Italy, the U.S., Germany, and Turkey. The Korea International Boat Show joined the International Federation of Boat Show Organizers (IFBSO) and achieved linkage with the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) last year, and also signed an MOU with the Italian Marine Industry Association (UCINA). Last February, it signed an MOU with America’s National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA).

Furthermore, the event will offer marine experiences at the second stage marina berthing facility of Jeongok Port, as well as an expanded range of marine leisure experience programs such as canoeing, kayaking, dinghy yachting, and water biking. It will develop youth and fishermen participation programs and ocean leisure-related group participation programs.

A total of 34 countries and 286 businesses, including 181 exhibitors (94 domestic and 87 overseas) and 105 buyers, will participate in the event.

To promote the sales of Korean products, the event will introduce the “Innovative Product Award System” for selected products from the domestic ocean leisure production field in a bid to promote competitive Korean technology to overseas marine associations and buyers.

On May 30, the Marine Business People’s Night will be held with the attendance of 300 event-related people, including domestic and overseas business representatives participating in the exhibitions and overseas buyers.

Various marine and athletic experiences and auxiliary events will be staged for visitors. A total of 12 marine experience programs (8 programs at Jeongok Port; 4 programs at Tando Port) will be available, along with newly added experiences such as power boating, a yacht cruise, a ship-boarding experience, and a luxury date event for couples.

he range of popular water events – such as kayaking, water bumper car racing, and water bicycling, boarding the Chamsuri ship, dinghy yacht competition, and traditional rowing competition – will also be expanded.

The athletic experience event will consist of 25 programs (20 programs at Jeongok Port; 5 programs at Tando Port), along with new hands-on activities such as skin/scuba diving, the air bounce playground, and photo events, as well as popular experience activities such as face painting, environment-friendly boat making, and boat show emblem wood printing.

Other auxiliary events such as the main road boat show, photo exhibition, main road parade, painters’ street, bubble show, magic show, byeongeom (mask-changing performance), classical music performance, and major concert performances will be held.

Twelve teams (1 domestic team; 11 overseas teams) will participate in the World Match Racing Tour Korea Match Cup, for which a round robin method will be used to select the 8 teams with the highest scores during the qualifying match. Thereafter, a tournament method (3 winners out of the five best teams) will be used for matches and the final competition to determine the champion.

Hwaseong City will prepare a number of promotional booths to promote the city’s excellent specialty produce under the brand name of Haetsaldeuri during the event. In the afternoon on June 2, it will hold a bike-picnic event that runs for 6km between the parking lot at Jeongok Port and the sea wall in Daesong District (round trip: 12km).

ⓒ G-News Plus News / Lim Jeong-seon / jslim123@kg21.net

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