News that the annual Outdoors Show, previously sponsored by the OS, is to be moved to London as part of the International Boat Show, surely sounds the death knell for the event.
It doesn’t give me any great satisfaction in saying that TGO pulled out of this particular show a number of years ago as we felt it had lost direction. Too much emphasis was on market trader-type stands, there were too many television-celebrity speakers with little substance, and the walking section of the show had diminished to obscurity.
Having said that, I still believe there is a need for a consumer-based outdoor show but one that is preferably based on walking and climbing, and one that will attract the main players in the outdoors market. Mind you, there isn’t even a national show for the outdoors industry any more since the demise of the old Harrogate shows so it’s highly unlikely we’ll see another consumer show in the near future.
The Birmingham NEC has been home to the Outdoors Show since 2002. The combined event will now take place at ExCel in London’s Docklands and will be held in January instead of March.
