Words: Ashley Rigg
Published: 16th March 2011
*Mixed start to UK exhibition season
A Place in the Sun Live got the UK overseas property season off to a mixed start this weekend as the organisers reported a dip in attendance but a rise in reported quality.
Despite A Place in the Sun spending more on marketing for this year’s London show, visitor numbers were down 15% on 2010 to 5223.
Although top-line numbers were down, a number of exhibitors reported excellent sales and lead volumes.
Martin Copeland, Sales Director of Knight Knox, who took eight stands and brought 27 staff to the event, said it was their best show to date.
“We were dead pleased. We had four confirmed sales on the day, seven inspection trips and we have circa 700 leads to follow up on”.
Knight Knox sell in multiple countries. The bulk of their sales came from the UK, Spain and Turkey at price points ranging from $50,000 to $200,000, which may be an indication of where the volumes are currently in the UK market.
John Hammond from Select Resorts was equally optimistic on his company’s sales prospects after exhibiting.
“It was an excellent show, we had great results from it, a good number of very strong leads”.
However, Chris Jordan, MD of Property Global Investments, specialists in 100% finance deals in Spain and Portugal, was less sanguine:
“It was ok. We were disappointed with the footfall but the quality was reasonable. The Sunday saved the event for us. We have around 40 leads to go after so it is still too early to tell”.
The most exciting moment of the event was arguably the arrival of Chelsea striker Didier Drogba who pulled up in a black Ferrari to meet Belgian exhibitor Kalia Living who were promoting a luxury development in Costa Rica.
Celebrity spot
“We have been speaking to Drogba for two and half months after receiving the lead from our up-market agency partner in London. He came just after the show closed to keep a low profile,” said Kalia director Dennis Leemans.
Source: Global edge
User Comments
I have to say this was the best show we have ever attended, we were even busy with customers on the Friday when it is normally mostly trade. We had orders placed at the show for 4 furniture packs and have several very strong property leads with 3 viewing trips already booked. Thanks to APITS it was a great weekend.
Neil
Neil Hollingsworth,
Rivermead Global
same at the France show last jan in earls court, a lot of visitors, but only 10% interested in buying a property in france!... though we have a lot of interest in property at the moment through france4u.eu
Benjamin Haas,
Sarl Burgundy4u