The organizers of the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show in Salt Lake City, Utah, have invited participants in the FlyFishing Retailer World Trade Expo to join them next August, since this fishing tackle show will not be held next year for the first time in 12 years. It took place in Denver last September. The fly fishing industry can’t sustain a stand-alone event in the current marketplace. Outdoor Retailer’s organizers noted that more than a quarter of retailers in the fly fishing industry already exhibit at their show in Utah, and that they all would benefit from expanding their reach to include generalist outdoor retailers, but they are competing against the American Sportfishing Association, which has invited the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) to its ICAST (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades) show in 2010. ICAST is held in July in Las Vegas. In 2009, ICAST had 396 exhibitors and more than 2,300 buyers. For its part, the European Fishing Tackle Association has won the battle against a new competing fly fishing trade show held in Amsterdam in August 2008, and is now recording strong interest in its EFFTEX show in Valencia next June 11-13. As of the end of last month, space bookings were up by more than 30 percent from the level recorded a year ago for the European show held in Budapest last June.
