Genoa to October, Dubai to November: the buying season redrawn
Two moves, one calendar
The Genoa International Boat Show has confirmed its 66th edition for 1-6 October 2026, leaving the late-September slot it held for years between Cannes and Monaco. The organisers announced the dates in October 2025 and described the shift as the start of a new phase of growth for the show, with Confindustria Nautica, the Italian marine industry association, publicly behind it.
Dubai went further. In March 2026 the Dubai World Trade Centre moved the Dubai International Boat Show from 8-12 April to 25-29 November at Dubai Harbour. Trade outlets Marine Industry News and SuperyachtNews both report the shift as permanent, with November now the show's fixed slot every year.
The new viewing circuit
The autumn now reads as one continuous circuit. The Cannes Yachting Festival runs 8-13 September, the Monaco Yacht Show follows on 23-26 September, Genoa takes the first week of October, and the Gulf picks up in November with the Abu Dhabi Boat Show on 19-22 and Dubai closing the season on 25-29. Until this year, seeing Dubai's show meant a separate trip in the spring.
Genoa's week matters most for volume. The 2025 edition drew 124,248 visitors, more than 1,000 boats and 4,050 sea trials, numbers reported by Marine Industry News. Sitting after Monaco rather than inside the same fortnight, the production and semi-custom market finally gets a week when brokers and buyers are not split across two cities.
When the money moves
Dubai's stated rationale is the deal window itself. The Dubai World Trade Centre says the November dates align the show with the start of the Middle East's prime boating season and create stronger conditions for launches and sales. A boat bought in late November goes straight into the Gulf season, which is why the sales conversations there will carry more urgency than the old spring slot ever did.
For a European buyer the sequence is now simple. Shortlist at Cannes and Monaco in September, sea-trial and negotiate at Genoa in the first week of October, and treat Dubai in late November as the last chance at show stock before order books roll into 2027. Deposits that used to spread across spring now concentrate in the fourth quarter, so the budget conversation belongs in autumn - that is when the calendar says the money moves.