Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show returns at full capacity

Fort Lauderdale, Florida – On Wednesday, the 62nd annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show kicked off, for the first time since 2019.

The boat show, which brings in $1.3 billion annually, was scaled back in 2020 with limited capacity and COVID-19 precautions. Event organizers and city leaders are happy, it’s back in all of its glory with about 700 boats on display on Wednesday.

“Another glorious day in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, right?” said City of Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis at the event.

Boat show attendees agreed with the mayor at the ribbon-cutting ceremony and were visually enthusiastic to see the return of the full-scale event On Wednesday.

“This is our super bowl,” said attendee Chip Lamarca.

The boating industry is responsible for around 8,000 area jobs, so, it’s no wonder this return to normalcy brings a sigh of relief to the community.

“We produced a show last year, but lost a lot of money,” explained boat show organizer Andrew Doole of Informa. “This year, hopefully, we’re back in the black. Something we had to do for the industry last year is make this show happen… it was probably 40 percent of what it was years past.”

The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs until Sunday.