As Morski writes, a conference was held recently in the Dalmatian city of Zadar under the auspices of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, where the leaders of Croatian tourism and the nautical and maritime sector spoke about the development of Croatian luxury nautical tourism, more specifically within Zadar County.
Nautical tourism is one of the backbones of tourism in the Croatian Adriatic, we saw all its advantages during the global coronavirus pandemic when it led the entire tourism sector towards much needed recovery. From its very beginnings until this very day, it has been continuously developing and growing, and one of the fastest growing and most powerful segments is certainly Croatian luxury nautical tourism. This type of tourism implies significant investments, an extremely high level of offer and service, and it also brings guests with higher paying power, and these were the topics of the aforementiond Zadar-based conference.
”Ports are the gateway to the world, the driver of economic development and an important pillar of transport connectivity, their contribution to nautical industry, which continuously records better results, is unmissable. Our national chain of marinas – ACI, which manages 22 marinas from Umag all the way down to Dubrovnik, knows this better than anyone, and the construction of the 23rd marina in Porto Baros in the City of Rijeka is also currently being prepared.
ACI manages the Simuni marina on the island of Pag in Zadar County. The amount that ACI invested in its marinas, just last year alone, stands at almost 44 million kuna. It is precisely these continuous investments in infrastructure, but also in the entire offer, along with the coastline that Croatia has, that give these excellent results and place nautical tourism in the position of one of the leading sectors in the country’s overall tourism results,” said Minister of Maritime Affaits, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic.
County Prefect Bozidar Longin rated the Zadar coastline as one of the most important and valuable resources available to the county. However, he also drew attention to sustainability, namely that the coast is a sensitive ecosystem that we must protect and preserve, while Mayor Branko Dukic pointed out that the proper preconditions should be created and the local population should be considered more than ever, given the large number of guests and crowds during the height of the summer tourist season.
Zadar County is an ideal destination for the development of Croatian luxury nautical tourism. Moreover, the president of the ACI Management Board, Kristijan Pavic, said that behind every luxury marina there must also lie a destination that is attractive to a clientele with higher paying power and greater demands, and Zadar is certainly one of those destinations. There can and should be a luxury marina located in Zadar, because the offer in the city and its surroundings is complementary to this type of marina, and vice versa.
The development of nautical tourism in Croatia over more recent years has defined a new direction in which we can head, and all those present agreed to continue to direct their proverbial sails in that direction, towards nautical tourism at an even higher level, remaining in synergy with the other facilities, content and tourist offer that the city already has.
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