The Berth Of Global Marina Resort Properties

The ‘berth’ of the marina resorts, it seems, is upon us with more and more countries embracing their surrounding oceans and integrating them into their tourist offering. The growth in popularity of nautical leisure pursuits is apparent with rising numbers of cruise passengers and with the advent of the mega-yacht phenomena, many coastal regions of the world are racing to build high quality marina berths to attract the money, create the glamour and appeal to the massive number of sailing tourists.

As sailing holidays become more and more affordable to the masses coupled with the accessibility of new and exciting areas of the world offering the added benefit of lower mooring costs, the demand for marina resorts is set to increase markedly in the short to medium term. Greece and Spain’s Costa del Sol to date, have been the front runners in marina resort marketing.

Spanish Marina in Mijas, Black Sea Coast Marina, Bulgaria & Didim Marina
Building on its reputation for tourist pleasure ports, the largest of which, Puerto Banús has become synonymous with super yachting territory, Spain recently announced ‘Marina Mijas‘, a state-of-the-art, 1000 berth marina to rival its Balearic counterparts with a dock to accommodate transatlantic cruisers. The project includes shopping, hotels and a nautical club.

Bulgaria and Turkey are also keen to focus their tourism generation efforts. Poralu Marina is playing a part in the growth of yachting in Bulgaria by constructing a marina located in the old quarter of the town of Balchik
and should become the Black Sea’s largest marina on the Bulgarian coast. A total of 250 pontoon moorings
will form part of a tourism development program called Marina City with the first 6 moorings delivered in July 2007, the remaining 190 moorings will be delivered during 2009.

Scheduled to be open in summer 2009, Didim is Turkey’s latest marina destination and the Aegean’s newest $50 million marina will include a heliport for the rich and famous to land helicopters direct on the site and enjoy a capacity for 623 berthed yachts, serving mainly yachts of 75 - 150 metres long, such as mega-yachts which are increasingly in popularity on the Aegean and east Mediterranean seaboard

Boating Booming in India
With boat orders booming in Mumbai, India’s latest maritime millionaires need somewhere to put them. With not a single marina present along the country’s 4,375 miles of coastline, Kerala, a town located in the country’s south and the resort area of Goa are racing to complete a marina first. Many more Indian marinas are being planned, and the developers hope that one day the 150-mile coast between Mumbai and Goa will rival the French Riviera; creating a predicted $1 billion maritime industry within 5 years.

The Berth of A Dubai Marina Dream
With Emirates pouring hundreds of millions of dirhams into the joint Arab-Kiwi sailing team Emirates Team New Zealand since 2004, Dubai has made no secret of its wish to host at the very least an Act of The America’s Cup, which would be a huge coup. No world-class Western sports event has been staged in the Middle East. Staging the America’s Cup will yield billions in construction and tourism dollars for the city. The rich sailing conditions of this middle eastern emirate and world-class Dubai Marina are already luring high class yachting enthusiasts who it hopes will take the sport of sailing in Dubai to a whole new level.

Nakheel Marinas, working exclusively with Island Global Yachting (IGY), the designer and manager for all the marina in Nakheel’s waterfront developments in Dubai, is in the planning stages to build about 40,000 berths. With already two marinas are under way, totalling 1,500 berths for small to mid-sized boats will come online in August this year - The Anchor East and Anchor West at Palm Jumeirah. Plans are also underway for mega-yacht facilities and luxury marinas on The Palm islands, Waterfront, and The World. The first mega yacht marina will come online early 2009 at Palm Jumeirah on the west side of the palm truck and it is believed this will be an marina icon, one that no other marina in the world will come close to equalling. Palm Deira has two marinas in advanced design stages, targeted to come online before the end of 2008.

Mega Yacht Marinas
Whether you opt to super-size your yacht or nothing but a mega yacht will do, you need a marina that will accommodate it, pretty soon Bimini Bay Resort and Marina might be one option, having recently unveiled plans for the largest marina in the Bahamas, a brand new Mega Yacht Marina accommodating up to 200-ft. yachts. The current on-site Customs & Immigrations, makes entry to the Bahamas seamless from nearby South Florida and the adjacent Fisherman’s Village, will provide a variety of retail and dining options.

A Thai Marina Bid

Pattaya’s Ocean Marina Yacht Club in Phuket plans to invest about 80-100 million Baht in renovating its current marina facilities to become Thailand’s yachting hub.

Developing a marina is of primary importance to have a market for boats, without berth spaces, even the most enthusiastic sailors cannot keep their own boats. The significant number of marina ventures on the horizon is an indication of the tourism opportunities by becoming a yachting destination. Marina investors worldwide are racing to become involved in this luxury end of the market which seems to be attracting a number of second glances from property investors around the world who are well aware of the potential for substantial capital appreciation on waterfront marina property. The impact on local communities and the potential for job creation and tourism dollars which is catching the eye of many governments. Areas which were once cut off from the main cut and thrust of the tourist industry may suddenly be opened up, attracting millions of dollars of investment which bodes very well for local economies.

The rise and rise of marina properties is a lucrative global travel trend worth watching.