November the 11th, 2023 – The 40th anniversary of ACI was recently marked in the Istrian city of Rovinj, where its contribution to Croatia’s positioning on the global nautical tourism map was discussed.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the 40th anniversary of ACI was marked with a ceremony in Rovinj on Thursday evening as part of Croatian Tourism Day. On that occasion, it was highlighted how ACI has created a true sense of nautical avant-garde and set many regional trends over the past four decades.
“From the visionary idea of Veljko Barbieri, which became a reality back in 1983, through to the construction of the first sixteen marinas in a record time of only eighteen months, to today’s construction of the ACI Marina Rijeka as the largest nautical project in the history of Croatia, ACI has been creating a nautical avant-garde throughout all of its forty years in this region”, the leaders of ACI stated.
Croatia’s unique vision
They noted that exactly four decades ago, Croatia realised its vision of a unique national chain of marinas, which today is the largest of its kind in the entire Mediterranean and proudly holds the title of regional leader in nautical tourism.
“Throughout the past forty years, and especially the last few years, ACI d.d. had an umbrella role during the development and improvement of the excellence of the infrastructure and offer of Croatian nautical tourism, as well as tourism in its entirety. Through as many as 22 marinas in its system, with the 23rd soon to be announced, the national nautical chain connects the most beautiful destinations along the Adriatic, and by listening to the needs of sailors, with a rich offer and continuous investments, ACI systematically strengthens Croatia’s position at the very top of the world in nautical tourism”, said the president of the ACI Board d.d. Kristijan Pavić.
He added that ACI has a total of 22 marinas in its system strategically distributed throughout the Adriatic, from Umag in the north to Dubrovnik in the south. “The season was more than good, people remained loyal to Croatia and we can be satisfied with the results achieved,” added Pavić.
ACI contributed to Croatia becoming the world’s top tourism destination
The State Secretary in the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Josip Bilaver, told reporters that this company, with its activities over the past forty years, has contributed to Croatia becoming the world’s top nautical destination.
“We’re very proud of that, but what makes us happy is the fact that ACI is working hard on new investments. The last one was in Rovinj, while they’re currently working on a big project, namely the construction of a new marina in Rijeka. In addition, we can boast of the transition to renewable energy sources and investment in digitisation,” concluded Bilaver.
