Director of the Monaco Yacht Show Gaelle Tallarida has gone into some detail in explaining how the show’s organisers are planning for the event, scheduled for the end of September.

She made her comments during the Superyacht Times tenth webinar, where she took part alongside other leading players in the yachting world, including Andrew Doyle, Informa’s President of US Boat Shows.

“MYS takes one full year to prepare for a team of 14 dedicated people, who I think over the years have shown our strength and capability to deliver an efficient platform. Now we are working step-by-step to adapt our planning, especially in considerations of contact with the client. Once we know how the COVID-19 situation will evolve over the next few months and what the outcome is of our planned meeting with the government in June, I think we will know if we can go ahead by the end of August,” Gaelle Tallarida said.

“In the meantime, we are studying to see what is feasible: we may register fewer people, for example. We have so many aspects to work on to satisfy every kind of scenario that we don’t have confirmed at that moment – but I know as a team we are very reactive so it is important to stay positive!

“At that moment, I would say that we have a lot of people committed to coming, and I’m quite confident that we will be able to set up a show and can ensure that all those attending are doing so safely. It might be smaller – it depends on the exhibitors, who we have allowed to take their time to confirm their exhibition stands.

“So far, we have less than five percent of the previous year’s exhibitors who have decided to cancel their participation. In terms of yachts, so far we have registered approximately an equivalent number of yachts compared to the past previous year. This is because the bookings usually move ahead during the summer.”

Mr Doyle spoke about how Informa, the UK-based organiser of MYS, had planned measures such as social distancing in North American venues, giving the company expertise on how to meet stringent health and safety requirements for global events.

The Monaco Yacht Show is planned for September 23-26, 2020.