With the latest escalations in COVID-19 cases comes the new surge of event cancellations. The fishing and boating industry has had its share, with a string of cancelled events—the latest being the 2021 Australian Fishing Trade Association (AFTA) show followed by the Sydney International Boat Show.
AFTA Tackle Show 2021
The Australian Fishing Trade Association (AFTA) recently announced that this year’s tackle show will not happen. According to the announcement made by AFTA President Michael Starkley, the event will be pushed back to August 2022. This is owed to the latest surge in COVID cases in the Greater Sydney area.
Earlier, in April, AFTA had announced that the show will be taking place from July 8-10 at the Gold Coast Convention Centre (GCCC). The earlier announcement detailed certain changes to the event, claiming that it will only be a demonstration and information show to comply with COVID safety guidelines.
Unfortunately, the three-day event has been postponed. Approximately “46% of the exhibitors and 33% of the retailers” are from the same affected area. The border restrictions set up by the Queensland Government to Sydney and Greater Sydney also meant that the exhibitors won’t be able to make it to the event, so there’d be no show, anyway.
AFTA 2021 Announcement
Watch AFTA President, Michael Starkley, make the cancellation announcement for this year’s tackle show.
Starkley cancelled the show early so the exhibitors can still plan their events accordingly. They announced that all the monies paid out to AFTA for the spaces and tickets have been refunded.
The AFTA show has been going on since it was first formed in the early 80’s by independent wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers. It was originally meant to protect the Australian fishing industry. It has since then evolved into something that gives Aussie anglers a voice in terms of marine parks and issues affecting them. They also played key roles in the ban of super trawlers.
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Sydney International Boat Show 2021
Along with AFTA, the Boating Industry Association (BIA) also announced the cancellation of Australia’s Sydney Festival of Boating.
The event, which was originally scheduled at the end of July 2021, was cancelled due to the same health and safety concerns that cancelled the AFTA show.
In an announcement, BIA president Darren Vaux said, “Cancelling the event supports government efforts to get the current outbreak of COVID-19 and its highly contagious Delta strain under control.”
He also said that it was a tough decision as the event had been sold out.
“It was a difficult decision to cancel the event, especially as there was such strong industry support.”
– BIA President Darren Vaux
Since the pandemic that started in late 2019, both the boating and fishing industry have exploded within Australia. The boating industry, in particular, has built their campaigns around the boating lifestyle. The appeal of the lifestyle has worked wonders that dealers are now barely keeping up with the sheer number of Aussies suddenly trying to get their feet wet.
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