A year into his role as Informa Prestige CEO, Moore talks about the ongoing evolution of the Monaco Yacht Show, the world’s leading superyacht gathering.
Interview: John Higginson; Photos: Monaco Yacht Show & Shipyards

Toby Moore, CEO, Informa Prestige

As CEO of Informa Prestige, what’s your role at the Monaco Yacht Show?

My role is to set the strategic direction that keeps the Monaco Yacht Show at the forefront of the superyacht world – an event that defines, rather than follows, the global standard for the sector. The Show has grown over 3½ decades, and as we approach our 35th edition (September 23-26, 2026), it has moved to become the undisputed reference point of the international superyacht sector.

My priority is to continue that evolution, broadening the Show beyond its traditional remit into a world-class luxury lifestyle event while protecting what makes it singular.

In practice, that means serving the full breadth of our audience: for our most experienced yacht clients, the depth of market and expertise required to assess the most significant fleet of the year; for newcomers and prospective owners, a guided, considered route into ownership through our Prestige VIP programme, which turns initial curiosity into a concrete and personal project.

Above all, I ensure the Show functions as a senior decision-making platform. It’s one of very few places in the world where a client can take a yacht project – whether a new build, a complex refit or a charter – from first conversation to commitment within a single perimeter. All of it set in the Principality of Monaco in a way nowhere else can match.

How would you describe your relationship with the Monaco Yacht Show during your nearly eight years with Boat International Media (as CCO, Co-CEO then CEO) before you moved to lead Informa Prestige?

During those years at Boat International, I came to see the Monaco Yacht Show from two angles at once. For the industry, it was an extraordinary marketplace: the one week in the year when the entire sector gathered in a single place and business of real consequence was done.

Port Hercule has hosted the Monaco Yacht Show since it was first held in 1991

For the client, it was an equally outstanding event, and I paid particular attention to the visit experience – to what it felt like to walk the quays, step aboard and take in the most significant fleet of the year in a setting unlike any other.

Moving to the other side has given me a much sharper sense of the responsibility that comes with organising it. Exhibitors’ expectations rise each year and understandably so – larger stands, more berths, greater prominence. Yet Port Hercule is a finite space, and every such decision bears directly on their business.

My firm belief is that those choices must be made with our clients’ interests and complete transparency at their heart. Exhibitors should be able to follow the reasoning behind each decision, even where the limits of the site mean we can’t grant every request.

What have you realised since joining the ‘other side’, as CEO of the Show’s owner and organiser?

Crossing to the other side first revealed the sheer logistical scale of what we do – turning Port Hercule into a world-class venue. However, what has struck me most is the human reality behind that achievement. It rests on a dedicated in-house team and on long-standing logistics partners and suppliers, many of whom have worked on the event for years and approach it not as a contract to be delivered but as a shared project season after season.

That collective, almost proprietorial commitment is what makes an undertaking of this complexity possible. It has also deepened my sense of the responsibility we carry, to the industry and to the Principality alike, and of how closely we must work with the Monégasque authorities to deliver an event that feels effortless to everyone who attends.

How does your media and publishing experience with Hearst Magazines, Time Inc and The Telegraph help you in your current role?

More than any single skill, my years in media and publishing – at Hearst, Time Inc and The Telegraph – made me someone who thinks in projects.

Lürssen announced that the 102.4m Nixie would be displayed at the 2026 Monaco Yacht Show

In that world you rarely begin with a blank page. You inherit strong, well-established titles and your task is to consolidate those foundations before building on them – extending what already works, launching new ventures alongside it and broadening what you can offer your audience.

The discipline translates directly. The Monaco Yacht Show rests on exceptionally solid foundations, and my instinct is not to disturb them but to build upon them – developing new initiatives that widen the range of opportunities open to our clients and grow the business for everyone involved. Solid foundations are not there simply to be maintained; they are the platform from which to extend further.

What recent changes to the Monaco Yacht Show do you think have been effective? And what improvements are still to be made?

Among the recent changes, the restructuring of our Prestige VIP programme has been especially effective. It gives serious prospects and new entrants a guided, immersive route through the Show rather than leaving them to navigate it alone. The expansion of the Adventure Area has also succeeded in capturing the growing appetite for experiential yachting – exploration and adventure rather than the marina alone.

As for what remains to be done, our focus is on the digital experience: a new MYS app and an interactive map that will allow real-time navigation of the event. We are also undertaking a complete redesign of the designers’ exhibition space to encourage richer, dialogue-led interactions. No edition is ever finished – each one teaches us where the next can be sharper.

What’s the most common complaint or challenge from exhibitors and how are you addressing this?

As I mentioned earlier, we carry a real responsibility towards our customers – towards every exhibitor. We are deeply grateful for their trust and for the investment they make in taking part, and we feel a genuine duty to help them achieve what they came for.

The Monaco Yacht Show typically hosts about 120 superyachts including about 50 global debuts

We see our B2B exhibitors as integral to the Show, not adjacent to it. Every yacht a client commissions ultimately draws on the expertise of the businesses gathered in Monaco, and our approach is a holistic one that places those companies at the heart of the event.

The decision to exhibit with us reflects a wish to stand among the leading references in the industry. Our role is to help each of them meet their commercial and marketing objectives over the course of the week.

This year we are doing more to bring the two sides together. Daily gatherings beneath the air conditioned tents will create regular, informal opportunities for exhibitors and visitors to meet. Visitors are now able to purchase a Wednesday pass giving access to the exhibition tents while the Dockside area – where the superyachts are berthed – remains reserved.

The Show’s most pressing challenges have included how to make it more focused on owners and prospects – realistic buyers – and how to appeal to the new generation of UHNWIs, who cut a different profile to traditional superyacht buyers. How is the Show addressing these concerns, and how can it improve in the coming years?

There are really two strands here. The first is ensuring the Show speaks to genuine owners and serious prospects rather than to spectators. Our answer is curation and qualification: the Prestige VIP programme exists precisely to identify and guide realistic buyers, giving them privileged, well-informed access rather than mere proximity to the fleet.

The Riva 54Metri is another world premiere scheduled for this year’s Monaco Yacht Show

By positioning the Show as a senior decision-making platform – where a project can move from conversation to commitment within a single perimeter – we keep the experience anchored in real intent rather than display.

The second strand is the changing profile of the buyer. We are seeing a marked rejuvenation of the market, with the average age moving towards 50. To engage these digitally native clients, we prioritise technical transparency and concrete data over brand rhetoric – they respond to evidence, not adjectives.

Areas such as the Adventure Area speak directly to their interest in water toys, tenders and luxury cars. And here, too, the Prestige VIP programme is essential, as it offers the personal introductions and expert context that no digital platform can replicate.

The Adventure Area has become a key part of the Monaco Yacht Show offering for visitors

Our task in the coming years is to keep refining that balance – combining the data and immediacy a younger client expects with the human guidance that has always defined the Show.

Is there anything else our readers should know about the Monaco Yacht Show 2026?

The 35th edition, in 2026, will be a significant one. On the infrastructure side, we are adding a further quay dedicated to berthing larger tenders – a reflection of the increasingly central part they now play in the superyacht experience.

On sustainability, we will continue to put the emphasis on concrete operational innovation rather than rhetoric. And we expect, once again, a record fleet: close to 120 superyachts, including some 50 world premieres. For a milestone edition, that’s a fitting statement – and a reminder of why Monaco remains the undisputed capital of yachting.

monacoyachtshow.com