The Balearic Islands invoice 428 million euros from the nautical sector

The Balearic Islands received ca. 444.000 nautical tourists in 2013, which represents a 20% increase compared to the previous year. Additionally, these visitors spent  more than 428.000 euros and 90% of them evaluated their experience as very satisfactory, as informed by the Balearic Ministry of Tourism and Sports in conjunction with their presence at the Barcelona Boat Show, where they will stay until the 19^th of October to promote the islands as a nautical destination.

The Balearic Islands are on display for the visiting public in a stand of the community, shared  between ATB, the Tourist Foundation of Ibiza, Ports IB and IDI.

The Barcelona Boat Show attracts thousands of visitors every year, which makes it a perfect opportunity to showcase a tourist destination like the Balearics, and also the companies of the islands.

In fact, in order to promote the islands as a destination for nautical tourism, the Balearic Tourism Agency, together with the Ports IB and the Institute for  Industrial Development (IDI), which organizes the Palma Boat Show,  will be participating with their own stand at the current edition of the Barcelona Boat Show, offering various information about the Balearic Islands as a nautical destination.

Source: Diario de Náutica.

Nautical tourism up by 20% in 2013 in the Balearic Islands

The Balearic Islands received ca. 444.000 nautical tourists in 2013, representing an increase by 20% compared to the previous year, informed the Balearic Tourism Agency (ATB), an entity that will be present at the Barcelona Boat Show until the 19th of October.

The nautical tourists spent in excess of 428 million euros in 2013 in the Balearic Islands and 90% of them evaluated their experience as very positive (8 or more in a scale from 0 to 10), informed the local Ministry of Tourism in their statement to the press.

ATB will participate in the Barcelona Boat Show with an aim to market the Balearic Islands as a destination for nautical tourism. They have set up their own stand, where they share space with the Tourism Foundation of Ibiza, Ports IB and IDI.

The Barcelona Boat Show attracts thousands of visitors every year and is considered an excellent opportunity for the sector to showcase their products and services.

Source: Finanzas.com

The nautical sector needs a nationwide marketing plan

To develop a nationwide marketing plan for the nautical sector with involvement of all the components of the sector: companies, professional sailors, institutions, media, administration.... is fundamental in order to create a "culture of the sea" that is so far inexistent in Spain. This is the principal conclusion drawn from a debate "The sea welcomes you", organized by ANEN during the Barcelona Boat Show, reuniting prominent figures from olympic sailing, professional sailors, journalists, entrepreneurs and representatives of the Administration.

Amongst the activities organised by the Spanish Nautical Trade Association during the 53rd Barcelona Boat Show, the debate "The sea welcomes you" marked a start of a closer cooperation between the various segments of the nautical sector to seek and support real alternatives to promote collectivisation of the sector.

"Sailing is fun" pointed out Theresa Zabell, the chairwoman of the Ecomar Foundation, in her contribution to the debate. With this message as a focal point of the communication, junior sailing programmes as much as various other activities at sailing clubs and other entities need to be developed. "This is the way to correct the perception many people in Spain have of sailing as something very expensive and complicated", stated the double olympic sailing champion.

ANEN starts to work on a future Collective Agreement for the nautical sector

A future Collective Agreement will be an essential tool for the collective bargaining and for the relationship between the employees and the employers in the nautical sector, up until now regulated by various, separate collective agreements for professionals.

In tandem with the development of the collective agreement, ANEN will also create a job exchange for the nautical sector, with an aim to promote the job offers of its associates and to help the workers of the sector find employment.

The creation of a specific collective agreement for the nautical sector in Spain is one of the pending tasks that ANEN, in its role as employers´ association, started to work on a few months ago.

Up until now, the professionals who work in the nautical sector have their relationships with the companies in the sector regulated through various non-specific collective agreements, according to the occupation they are specialized in. This results in more complicated collective bargaining than in other professional sectors, both for the employees as for the employers.

To find a solution for this situation and to progress in establishing a more professional and competitive nautical sector both in our country and in Europe, ANEN will first prepare a basic document for the negotiations between the companies and the representatives of the workers, which will  eventually get developed into the Collective Agreement for the Nautical Sector.

“The most representative industrial and business sectors of the Spanish economy have their own collective agreements as necessary tool for demonstrating their professionalization and their day-to-day reality for the society and for the administration. The nautical sector should also respond to this necessity”, states Carlos Sanlorenzo, the general secretary of ANEN.

Job exchange for the nautical sector

As has happened with the collective agreement, ANEN has detected another need in the sector, and will go on to create a job exchange, so that companies and workers of the nautical sector  can have access to a platform of supply and demand of jobs, dedicated exclusively to the nautical sector.

The job exchange under development will, to begin with, contain job offers from the associate companies of ANEN, as well as applications of people looking for work or wishing to change jobs.

The new platform will be located on the website of ANEN (www.anen.es).

Source: ANEN.

The Barcelona Boat Show opens with the number of stands up 17% from last year

The Barcelona Boat Show opened the gates today with 17% more stands than last year, explained the mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, and pointed out that "the nautical activity is recovering".

Trias thanked the Fira de Barcelona for the important effort of keeping the show afloat during the hard years of crisis and for investing in it with determination.

The Barcelona Boat Show will have around 250 exhibitors presenting  650 vessels in total, 70 of which new models, 50 novelties in electronic accessories  and motors of the last generation, as well as other products and must-haves.

The show, which will remain open from today until the 19th of October, is organised by the Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish Nautical Trade Association (ANEN), concentrates the exhibition and activities on the "España" and "Fusta del Port Vell" docks in Barcelona.

The president of the show, Luis Conde, highlighted the tangible optimism this year, as a result of the recreational craft registrations being up by 12,8% in Spain during the first three quarters of the year, compared to the same period last year.

Speaking with the press, Conde explained about the plans to talk with the Minister of Taxation, Cristóbal Montoro, about eliminating the matriculation tax altogether, because "it doesn´t make any sense having to pay 12% tax for buying a boat in Spain when you don´t need to do it in France or Italy".

Among the novelties presented on the show this year,  a motor cruiser Rodman Muse 44 stands out, as well as the Sunseeker 75, a superyacht that combines the design experience of the British yard with the use of new technologies.

Source: Yahoo noticias.

The nautical qualifications and the competitiveness of the sector

The fundamental objective of this new regulation is to foster the competitiveness of the nautical segment, above all when it comes to training for obtaining the qualifications, or the scope of the qualifications as such. It involves also a considerable reduction of bureaucratic procedures.

The majority of the associations have given their consent to the Royal Decree, although they regret the delay of almost a year since the announcement of the reform. Additionally, it should be taken into account that the BOE states that the new regulation comes into force in the beginning of next year, three months after the publication  (read the attached BOE).

The delay is due, amongst other issues, to a series of developments, basically of technical nature (debated between the representatives of the sector), related to the characteristics of the boats and their equipment on board, and which have led to a need to simplify the theoretical content of the training to access the recreational qualifications and to adapt them to the current situation, as well as to introduce various changes in the scope of them.

As an example, a qualification as a recreational yacht skipper (PER, the most popular nautical qualification in Spain, will allow longer distances of navigation, taking into account the acquired practical training of the skipper of each boat.

Read the complete article in Naucher Global.

Boat show in tail wind

The International Boat Show of Barcelona will be the chosen stage for the Spanish and international firms to launch their new models related to the nautical world.

Around 250 exhibitors will participate in the show, exhibiting for the first time over 70  new models among the 650 vessels in total, and presenting more than 50 electronic accessories and motors of the latest generation. The 53rd edition of the show, in a context of a recovery of the sector, will also host a variety of activities and conferences for the professionals and nautical enthusiasts.

Third year in Port Vell

Organized by the Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Spanish Nautical Trade Association (ANEN), the boat show concentrates the commercial exhibition and activities on the docks “España” and “Fusta del Port Vell”. The boats above 8 m are exhibited in the water – an initiative carried out for a third consecutive year, which without doubt has contributed to make the show more visible and spectacular, while on land the visitors can find all types of products and nautical services, apart from small boats and inflatables.

Among the novelties presented this year in Barcelona, standing out are the Rodman Muse 44, a Spanish built motor cruiser of global reference, and the Sunseeker 75, a superyacht that combines the design experience of the British yard with the use of new technologies.

The Lagoon 630 MY, a spectacular catamaran, directed to long distance sailors without sacrificing the comforts of a motor yacht, or the sailing yachts Oceanis 60, Beneteau and Dufour 560 GL which will also be a delight for the sailing enthusiasts.