Interboot shrinks again: 36,100 visitors, a quarter down on 2022

The 65th Interboot ran from 23 to 27 September 2026 in Friedrichshafen, Germany. In its closing report of 27 September, the organiser gives 36,100 visitors and describes the figure as lower than last year. No second source had confirmed the number at the time of publication, so we report it explicitly as the organiser's figure.

The trend over recent years points one way. The show drew 49,800 visitors in 2022 and 41,200 in 2023, a drop of around 17 per cent. It recorded 40,100 in 2024 and 37,900 in 2025, when the organiser blamed the economic and geopolitical situation. At 36,100, this year's total is roughly a quarter below 2022.

Part of the fall comes from the format. Until 2023 the show lasted nine days; since 2024 it has run for five. On that basis, around 4,600 people came per day in 2023 and around 7,200 in 2026. The exhibitor list has shrunk too: the organiser gives 308 exhibitors, slightly below last year, but says there were more boats on site than in 2025. It puts the drop in exhibitors down mainly to the geopolitical situation and changes in the charter business, and gives no exact number of boats. The show has become denser, not bigger.

At the industry panel on 24 September, the German marine trade association Verband Maritime Wirtschaft Deutschland (VMWD) repeated the picture from its member survey: more than 60 per cent of businesses rate their situation as worse than last year, with used boats and service holding the trade together. What is new is that the first orders for 2027 are already in. Both the organiser and the German Motor Yacht Association (DMYV) speak of cautious optimism, without giving order numbers.

After this edition, Zuzanna Sroda takes over as project manager from Felix Klarmann. She has been part of the Interboot team for many years and helped carry through the switch to five days in 2024. In our view her strongest lever is not the number of exhibitors, which depends on the market and the charter trade, but the harbour: test drives, a programme on the water and an evening on the pontoons that keeps visitors longer than the walk to the next hall. That is where new leadership can show its direction fastest. The first test is Interboot from 22 to 26 September 2027.