The Development of the Nautical Tourism in Croatia
The country of 1000 islands, the total revenue of tourism in the whole of the world amounts to 100 billion euros. Nowadays Croatia gets a 6% slice of the tourism cake. Before the war, tourism in Croatia was the main economic drive that was filling in the coffers of the National Bank of ex-Yugoslavia. The war has put Croatia as a destination on hold but now this beautiful country is in again and everyone is buzzing about Croatia as the top European destination.
Croatia has great potential in this economical branch. However, as in every business, the key is in strategy. To revert to the first sentence of this article, “the country of 1000 islands”, it seems to me that the answer to the question regarding the strategy is self-explanatory. Croatia needs to follow the example of Montenegro and it needs to create a positive investment climate for the construction of mega yacht marinas.
We have asked SrÄ‘ Portolan, a member of the Adriatic Yacht Services management board his viewpoint. SrÄ‘ has told us that we should follow the model employed by France. Portolan was part of the Adriatic Yacht Services incentive trip which took place in Cap d’Antibe in March 2013.
Srđ told us that he was amazed by the scale of marinas and especially those reserved for mega yachts. Srđ also explained to us that the quality of the infrastructure services was second to none. Srđ Portolan stressed that this French model is what Croatia lacks.
Here in Croatia, Dubrovnik if we are to examine only two of these factors, we have failed the exam. Naturally, we have to follow the example of our neighbors, Montenegrins. Porto Montenegro in Tivat, a luxury marina complex, an Anglo-Russian investment project is a success story to the point that oil-struck Azeri investors are investing serious money in the development of a new luxury marina in Kumbor.
Having been to Porto Montenegro I was amazed at the scale of infrastructure, restaurants, luxury shops, luxury travel agencies, yacht dealership representative offices, and car dealership representative offices which to me only highlighted the seriousness of the whole story.
At the end of the day, the conclusion one can draw is a simple one, Dubrovnik as Croatia’s top destination must find asap a solution for the construction of a marina for mega yachts before is too late. So if you get on your yacht in Porto Montenegro in Tivat and it is logical that your next stop is Dubrovnik.
However if you do not have a marina for megayachts let alone accompanying infrastructure and services, it is highly unlikely that you as a country read destination, are to raise this slice in the cake to let us say 8% and speed up your economic recovery.
