Sardinia, laboratory of tomorrow's nautical tourism

Sardinia as a laboratory of tomorrow's nautical tourism, where respect for the environment, attention to tourist needs and valorisation of local excellence go hand in hand.

It is not a mirage but the concrete project proposal that emerges from the recently concluded research by the University of Sassari, "Regional observations and analyzes of yachting and tourist ports in Sardinia".

The survey, which in recent months has taken stock of the situation in recreational boating and, at the same time, traced the possible developments of the sector, was carried out by the DISEA - Department of Economic and Business Sciences of the University of Sassari, in collaboration with Federagenti, Port Authority of Olbia, Port Authority of Cagliari, financed by the Sardinia Region.

In Sardinia alone there are over 3,500 companies active in the pleasure boating sector with profits of around 15 million euros by 2023, yet according to the researchers, with data in hand, much more could be done.

The over 100 port structures on the island were analysed, in particular the structures deemed suitable for hosting yachts larger than or equal to 25 meters and although Sardinia has a significant number of marinas capable of hosting large yachts, the region suffers from the absence of a connection with the internal areas. Consequently, this does not allow the creation of an economically advantageous supply chain even for the territories that could benefit from it. How can we overcome this gap?

In the multidisciplinary study, the architecture of a network is also traced, based on innovative technologies such as blockchain, which could provide various types of services, such as, for example, putting in contact the producers of agro-food, local artistic craftsmanship and providers of services dedicated to tourism and yachting, present in the territories close to the landing places, with yachting workers. In short, the idea is a digital platform capable of integrating maritime and land services but be careful: it's not just about creating a technologically advanced service, but rather about putting people, their stories and their passions at the center of the experience. The platform becomes a bridge between those who sail and those who live on land, thus improving the experience of nautical tourism in Sardinia.

The study was focused on the one hand on demand, analyzing the number and type of yachts that frequented the Mediterranean and therefore the Sardinian coasts, on the other on the supply of products and services available for yachting, through the identification of the main elements that currently characterize the supply basket of local goods and services.

The final phase of the project included the conference "Tourist ports: fundamental axis for the yachting segment" last November, in the Aula Magna of the University of Sassari, in which researchers, professionals and representatives of the institutions participated and the last piece will be the delivery, in a few weeks, of a final study for the Sardinia Region, to be shared with administrators and local actors.

To carry out the study, it was necessary to create, first of all, an organized collection of data on ports and marinas in order to identify any critical issues and provide indications based on the analysis of the best practices in place. The historical series of data on yachts present in the Mediterranean over the last 10 years was examined by the researchers, i.e. over 40 million pieces of information extrapolated from an official nautical information service for naval localization, "Marine Traffic", were analysed.

The island was contextualized in the context of the Mediterranean, where the overall number of yachts present went from 953 in 2015 to 1,385 in 2024. The decline in 2020, with only 978 yachts, is linked to the general decrease in tourist activities linked to the pandemic which also affected the entire Mediterranean that year.

The most important growth was recorded in 2023, growth mainly due to the increase in smaller yachts. As with tourism in general in Sardinia, yachting also remains highly linked to the summer season only, in particular the months of July and August.

The comparison with other Mediterranean regions such as Sicily, the French Riviera and the Balearics is also interesting: compared to these, Sardinia offers modern and specialized infrastructures, despite facing challenges such as seasonality and high costs.

The economic-business analysis conducted for the territory of Sardinia examined the companies operating in the nautical sectors, i.e. the economic sector of maritime transport and the construction of ships and boats, also including the catering services sector located in the main port areas of the island.

The total profits of the three economic sectors observed are approximately 15 million euros for the year 2023. The sector that contributed the most is that of catering services with approximately 10 million profits. Maritime transport and the ship and boat building sector contributed approximately 2.5 and 1.7 million euros. In particular, shipyards produced profits of 243,000 euros, representing 14% of the profits of the ship and boat construction sector.

The environmental impact of boating and recreational boating was not ignored in the study, an inventory of the emissions produced by this sector would in fact be useful to proceed with mitigation, using increasingly efficient systems, such as those created by the recent cold ironing policies on the island, as highlighted by various studies relating to the impacts of boating, in which a greater reduction in environmental impact is found with the integration of totally electric systems.

Comparative considerations have highlighted how the Italian, Spanish, French and Croatian systems present profoundly different models in terms of tourist ports from an environmental point of view: characteristic of the French model is the significant attention to environmental protection which finds similarities only with the Croatian experience due to the strong link present in that country between tourist ports and protected natural areas.

“Overall, the study sought to grasp a holistic vision of the topic, which requires continuous updating, which is fundamental for developing the knowledge economy useful for adequately governing dynamic activities such as the pleasure boating sector. The island, despite presenting notable opportunities and strengths that have always been known, still suffers from lack of services and qualifications especially for the high targets that it hosts, unfortunately, only in the summer months - explains the scientific director of the project, Professor Brunella Brundu - while in reality Sardinia would be ripe to plan and implement a new project in one of the suitable territories that is able to respect the environment and identity and which also attracts high-end tourism".