
Trade fairs are known to be expensive affairs, as exhibitors need to take care of accommodations, travel, transport for their products and goods, exhibition space, stand building, materials, brochures/catalogues and much more. The total bill can often exceed tens of thousands of euro. In comparison, visitors have it much cheaper, typically having to pay only a fraction of that cost to handle accommodations, travel and a ticket. But then how come to some visitors end up spending way, way more than even the most generous exhibitors?
The answer lies in the so-called luxury goods - items sold directly at the fair for exorbitant amounts of money. It’s not uncommon for trade fairs to offer consumer goods for sale, as the exhibitors often target their customer audience and offer new products and collectables. But these merchandises cost just a couple of euros, like household items or small electronics – hardly anything you’d find listed on luxury websites.
Then there are the luxury items, the ones reserved only for the most influential attendants, the products that guarantee you’ll be the talk of the talk, for a price. And that price is usually above five digits. Find it hard to believe? Well, let’s look at 5 items for sale at trade fairs around the world and see just how high the numbers can go.
Baselworld Offers Watches for up to $1.5 Million
When it comes to timepieces, jewellery and expensive stones, it’s hard to find an expo quite like Baselworld – the leading trade fair for the jewellery industry. It gathers more than 100,000 professional visitors to Basel every year to marvel at the beautiful masterpieces its exhibitors have put on display. What’s interesting to note is that, unlike other exhibitions dedicated to the jewellery sector, Baselworld often has price tags on its products, so theoretically, if you were rich and crazy enough, you could leave the fair with some shiny souvenirs. Prime among these deluxe products are the watches on display, ranging in price from a few hundred dollars to four or five digits. For example, the Limited Edition of Oris Great Barrier Reef, a striking timepiece with deep blue colouring, will set you back about $2,500 – on the lower end of the scale. If you’re interested in putting the Hublot Big Bang Sang Bleu II on your wrist, however, you better be prepared to fork over $47,300.
But both of them pale in comparison to the Hublot Big Bang Tourbillon Power Reserve, a beautiful white gold watch with baguette-cut diamonds first unveiled at Baselworld 2017 that will cost you a staggering $1.5 million. Despite their appetising name, baguette-cut diamonds are better left off the table, as their unique form and size is what gives the Big Bang its heavy price tag. The unique way they’re cut allowed the designers to put more diamonds on the surface of the watch than any other model before it, for a total of 1574 meticulously cut crystals with a total carat weight of 84.90. Believe it or not, in the grand scheme of trade fair shopping, the most expensive watch in the world is actually among the cheaper goods you can buy.
A 10-cent Comic Book Was on Sale for $3.2 Million
These days, comic books can be a little bit expensive compared to other forms of entertainment, but at $4 - 5 per issue, they’re hardly out of most people’s budget. Depending on what comics you’re looking for, today, a lot of them sell for way under the value listed on their front cover. So it’s understandable that the attendants of New York Comic Con 2014 likely had not brought a lot of spending money to the expo. So imagine their surprise when they saw a single old comic book going for $3.2 million. Indeed, a copy of Action Comics #1 from 1938 – priced at the meagre 10 cents at the time (or less than $2 in today’s money) – made an appearance for one day at Comic-Con, with a price tag of more than most people will make in their lifetime.
It’s easy to understand the value of Action Comics #1 once you delve into its background and realise it commemorated the very first issue of Superman – who, in turn, was the very first superhero ever, inspiring later creations like Batman and Wonder Woman. In a way, this single comic book kick-started a genre that, more than 80 years later, continues to be as strong as ever. No one at New York Comic Con took up the sellers on their offer, but with such a rich history behind it, it’s not hard to imagine that many felt tempted.
Monaco Yacht Show Rents Out Yachts for $1.29 Million Per Week
There are few trade fairs more luxurious than those dedicated to the yachting world. They are usually located in well-off places like Dubai and the Caribbean islands, where their visitors can enjoy a few days in the company of appetisers, champagne and some of the biggest, most expensive yachts ever built. One of the top yacht fairs is undoubtedly the Monaco Yacht Show, which boasts an impressive 35,000 attendants and dozens of luxurious mega-yachts available to view and go on a pleasant ride in the company of experts.
Unfortunately, you can’t buy many of the yachts present at the fair – they’re just far too expensive to be available for sale to more than the richest of the rich. What you can do, however, is charter them for private use, paying a small weekly fee for the privilege. Among the yachts listed at Monaco Yacht Show 2018, one of the more humble ones was the Axioma, which was rented out for about $700 - $750 thousand per week. Meanwhile, the 95-meter long Kismet, owned by billionaire Shahid Khan, charters for slightly more at $1.29 million. But what if you really wanted to buy one of those yachts for yourself? Well, in that case, hopefully, you have about $62.4 million lying around to gain ownership of the Boadicea or up to $211 million for the impressive 88-meter long Barbara. No wonder yachting is considered an expensive hobby!
Bugatti Unveils the Most Expensive Car in the World – Selles It tor $19 Million
Almost every adult in today’s society owns a car, meaning there are millions of car enthusiasts in practically every country in the world. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that almost every nation has its own vehicle show, usually gathering a few thousand fans to check out and test drive the newest cars. Geneva International Motor Show, however, leads all other automotive shows with a staggering 700,000 annual visitors. People from all over Europe and beyond visit to see world premieres of the latest vehicles from major brands and speak with the experts.
Considering the monumental importance of the trade fair, it’s no wonder Bugatti chose it as the grounds to unveil the Bugatti La Voiture, the most expensive car ever built. Created to commemorate Bugatti’s 110th anniversary, the six-tailpipe hypercar boasts 16 cylinders and 1500 brake horsepower, alongside a sleek, modern design. The one-of-a-kind car was not only unveiled at Geneva International Motor Show 2019, but it was also available for sale. Anyone who happened to have 16.7 million euros (or about $19 million) on hand could figuratively drive out of the trade fair in a state of the art vehicle. And someone did. While it took a few weeks to finalise the deals and announce them to the public, it appears that the football star Cristiano Ronaldo chose to take up Bugatti on their offer. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to drive the car until 2021, as what was unveiled at the trade fair was simply a prototype that needs to be manufactured. Nevertheless, Mr Ronaldo is now a proud owner of the world’s most expensive car, as well as a proud visitor of the Geneva International Motor Show. We can only aspire to one day follow in his footsteps.
So are you ready to head out to your next big trade fair? You may want to spend some time preparing your bank account for the luxury shopping spree, so make sure to focus on your work. Leave the mundane tasks of finding a suitably located accommodation to our team of experts. We will find you the best deals and help you save some money.
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