During his opening address of delegates at the European Marina Conference in the Palma Auditorium on 30th April, the President of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Matas, made it clear that his government saw no room for complacency regarding the huge potential for maintaining and expanding nautical tourism in the region.
Sr. Matas emphasised the point that the Balearics have staked their future on quality tourism, which by definition includes leisure yachting, and also mentioned that the sector is already one of the 3 main employment sources, accounting for 25% of the industrial activity around the islands.
He went on to say that Spain “had a way to go” despite the unique opportunities offered by the Spanish national coastline, particularly when compared with the situation in France and Italy.
The conference had as its main theme “setting the agenda for European marinas” and was intended to harmonise the marine leisure policies of different countries to stimulate growth in nautical tourism.
Francesc Xavier Mangrane, Chairman of the organisers Euromarina, has previously stressed the need to have a level playing field for mooring fees and taxes between the major yachting regions in Europe.
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The President of the Balearics Chamber of Commerce, Sr. Juan Gual de Torrelo, himself a keen yachtsman, also spoke during the opening proceedings, and clearly laid out the items that he perceives as being threats to the future for yachting in the Balearics.
He said that a punitive tax regime has killed off or stifled growth in the boat building, service and charter sectors, and that Italian and French boat builders have flourished whilst many Spanish boatyards have vanished.
Lack of moorings was also a perception that suggested saturation of the Balearics coastline to potential visitors and investors, but Sr.Gual argued that this was predominantly a peak season impression, when yachtsmen can experience poor service levels due to over demand in August.
As for suggested actions, he mentioned that the Chamber is lobbying hard for a reform of the tax regime affecting yacht building and chartering, and that local labour in the leisure marine service sector needs more skills training programmes to be developed.
In common with other speakers on the first day of the conference, Sr. Gual made reference to the fact that available land for new or extended marinas was scarce.
He said the Chamber of Commerce was keen to increase promotion of the region by representing the Balearics at all the major boat shows in Europe, and via a modern fully updated web portal.
Also to work with others to promote the Mediterranean islands as a nautical tourism product, with a wider year round seasonal appeal. And lastly to encourage more chartering in order to get a higher utilisation from the present facilities spread over more months of the year.
Speaking for the Balearics Confederation of Enterprise Associations (CAEB) Sr. Jose Oliver Mari, referred to the €500 million in revenue, which was derived from nautical tourism for the Balearics in 2006, and gave some data from their last study in 2001 which will soon to be updated for 2006.
This indicated that the Balearics had (at the time of the study) 12.2% of the moorings in the western Med with close to 14,000 berths, but that only just over 2% of those have been provided for yachts of over 20 metres in length, and that 44% of nautical tourists arrive on their own boats.
Sr.Oliver concluded that to reap more from the Balearics quality tourism objectives, it was important to provide more moorings and facilities for larger yachts, and to reform the tax regime affecting the leisure marine charter and services sector.
The second day of the conference included a full session on “Superyacht Marinas and Markets” , which obviously tied in with the observations of the opening speakers.
Oscar Siches who manages Pantalan Mediterraneo Marina in Palma, spoke about the world of Superyachts as being “a totally different matter” to providing moorings and facilities for smaller yachts.
He emphasised that owners of 70 or 80m yachts live in a luxury zone, which cannot be viewed through the same eyes as the rest of the world, and that a bespoke service needs to be developed for them, with considerable sacrifices made in terms of space, manouverability, provision of shore services, parking and access etc.
Sr. Siches further pointed out that the home port mooring for any yacht over 40m, has to consider the needs of a large crew who will have that location as their residence and permanent address for an average 300 days per year.
Dr. Heiner Haass from Deutsche Marina Consult, exemplified these points in his presentation of a custom designed Superyacht marina, featuring purpose built shore modules which are accessed directly from deck level, and include all the facilities to continue business or leisure activities in luxury, and adjacent to the moored yacht.