As Morski writes on the 7th of June, 2020, Croatia expected to earn an enormous amount of money this year from the budding and highly promising nautical tourism sector. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, of course, those earnings will be significantly lower, but not as low as in some other branches of Croatian tourism.
With the opening of the borders, sailors, who keep their boats in Croatian marinas, are continuing to arrive in increasing numbers, the first megayachts are entering Croatian waters, and a charter fleet has been launched, which Croatia has the most of and is among the most famous in the world, writes HRT.
Most foreigners perceive the Republic of Croatia as a destination free from coronavirus, while it would be a lie to say that is true, what can be said with utmost confidence is that Croatia has handled and is continuing to handle the pandemic exceptionally, making it among the safest countries in the world. Leading the way in the feeling of safety are those in nautical tourism and sailors who feel carefree in Croatian marinas and on their boats.
”A large number of guests came to us. We can’t, of course, compare this and draw a parallel with last year. However, guests are indeed returning, and those who haven’t yet arrived continue to express their desire to come as soon as possible. We even have new arrivals, which makes us happy,” says Renata Marevic, director of the Punat marina.
This June, as we reported recently, the use of ACI marinas from Istria all the way down to the extreme south of Dalmatia is free of charge for the owners of boats berthed there throughout the year. They want to encourage arrivals and show that nautical tourism and sailing along the Croatian coast and to the islands is a safe venture to undertake. In addition to foreign sailors on their own vessels, a charter fleet has been launched, and megayachts are in sight.
”We had inquiries for mega-yachts coming from the markets of France, Spain and Italy, and even from the Caribbean. We have no specific inquiries for the transfer of the charter fleet from the Balearic Islands, but we have for megayachts. The marina in Rovinj is one of those in which we’ve been having talks and I believe that we’ll manage to accommodate some of these ships because it was made for this type of client,” says Kristijan Pavic of ACI.
For more on nautical tourism in Croatia, follow our travel section.
