Government policy starts to bite

Jan 24, 2023

The good news is that the 65^th  Anniversary Toronto International Boat Show opened last Friday January 20^th to strong attendance, positive attitudes and a great looking show floor. Hats off to the Canadian Boat Shows team for an outstanding job there.

The show space is somewhat smaller than in past years in terms of boats on display but that is mainly noticeable to those of us in the industry. The show attendees are not noticing this, at least at first. 

Then, as they walk around, those who have attended past shows may realize that in spite of seeing many beautiful displays of great new boats, they are not seeing the big boats that were on display before the Liberal government brought in the Luxury Tax.

This is where that Government policy starts to bite. Dealers really had no reliable way to gauge how the boat-buying public would respond to this significant new tax but common sense tells us there will be resistance to buying bigger boats that attract this tax penalty.

The costs to order in and floorplan an expensive boat that may not be profitable to sell at retail, dictated that dealers did not place those orders. And, the result is that there is little on the show floor that costs above $250,000.

Toronto has just two keel boats on display. There are far fewer cabin boats.

Something else is different this year. We are seeing a host of boat brands that are new to this show. That’s refreshing and it will be interesting to show attendees for sure. There are some very fresh new designs that give the show floor a very different look.

As you read this on Tuesday morning, January 24^th, I will again be the MC at the NMMA Canada State of the Industry Breakfast event. This will have a great agenda of speakers and presentations that we will report on in News Week next week. I hope you are there and can join us.

Thanks to the Canadian Boat Shows team, TIBS is back and looks great but things have certainly changed.

Andy Adams – Editor