61st London Boat Show kicks off with 400 boats

As a global lead of its kind in boat exhibition, the 61st London Boat Show is a New Year festival for boat enthusiasts during this weekend.

Kicking off at London's exhibition center ExCel on Friday, London Boat Show this year has exhibited around 400 boats, with 83 boat debuts to be held and 39 products to be unveiled at the venue. It has attracted more than 400 exhibitors, including super yacht makers Sunseeker International and Princess Yachts.

The biggest and most expensive boat is the Sunseeker 28 Meter Yacht measuring 92 feet, or 28.15 meters, and costing 4,763,000 pounds (excluding VAT). And the smallest boat is the Ribeye TL240 measuring 2.4 meters, according to key facts given by the organizer.

The British-based Sunseeker was acquired by China's Wanda Group last August.

Simultaneously, Telegraph Cruise Show is also held at the same venue. The show hosts around 60 exhibitors, offering a broad range of expert advice for travel enthusiasts.

Data shows that leisure, super yacht and small commercial marine industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in Britain. Currently, the total annual value of the industry currently is 2.905 billion pounds (or 4.4 billion U.S. dollars). The full economic impact of British marine industry and spend associated with boating participation was estimated to total 6.2 billion pounds in the financial year 2012-2013.

London Boat Show will run until Jan. 18. Endit