BY ANTONELLA BRIANDA
The numbers have practically doubled, with 150 boats and 118 exhibitors in the boxes to which are added those who, having not found a place, have nevertheless decided to participate outside the stands: the second edition of the Sardinia Nautical Fair, hosted in the Marina of Porto Rotondo in Olbia, opened this morning with important attendances that herald a record five days also for the expected visitors. Already in March, arrivals in Sardinia reached 71 thousand units, tourists who arrived on the island through the three airports over the Easter holidays. If we consider that Sardinia can count on 233 routes and destinations this summer and 9,400,000 seats by plane, the forecasts can only be positive.
The event of the Sardinia Nautical Fair actually opens the season and aims to promote the sector and its excellence by laying the foundations for the creation of a real pole of the sector on the island. Planned and financed by the Regional Tourism Department together with Cipnes, as part of the Insula-Sardinia Quality World territorial marketing programme, it has opened its stands positioned along the quay of the Porto Rotondo marina, welcoming the most prestigious nautical companies both nationally and internationally. Brands such as Azimut-Benetti, Ferretti Group, Solaris, Maiora, and then again Garmin, Navico Group therefore Lowrance, Simrad, C-Map, B&G, Saim, Seakeeper, will be present for five days, until April 25, available to enthusiasts and industry experts. A sector, that of the nautical sector, which has one of the longest supply chains in the entire sector and which involves not only those who produce the boats, but also those who contribute to ensuring that they have on board everything we need to be able to navigate safely and in maximum comfort.
The decision to stay in the Olbia area again this year is significant and has been underlined several times by the organizers. “Olbia is a very important nautical center, in great expansion with manufacturing yards and with numerous companies that are distributors for the main national and foreign brands”, explained Angelo Colombo, responsible organizer of Cipnes Nautical Fair of Sardinia. The growing numbers of the Fair also bode well for the Regional Councilor for Tourism Gianni Chessa: “The real positive result will come when we manage to achieve our goal of giving birth to the Mediterranean nautical pole, with Sardinia at the centre, organizer and promoter. We are planning to conquer new international markets and therefore the decision to bring the fair to Poeto Rotondo has put us even more in the limelight on the world stage”.
In five days dedicated to boating, the Sardinia destination is told through experiential tourism. “The idea of Cipnes together with the regional tourism councilorship is to focus on the promotion of this type of tourism, with a story of the island beyond the known, of the magic of its sea, going further to discover its true And we do it through five paths: the paths of food and wine tourism, the paths of slow tourism and religious paths, that of active tourism and sport, that of archeology and the last section dedicated to art, culture and design “, explained Massimiliano Masia, director of Insula.
Focus on tourism promotion, but also on the training of highly qualified and competent professional figures, capable of responding to the needs of a market that wants excellence: this is what the mayor of Olbia Settimo Nizzi underlined who joined the thought of the president of the Cipnes Gianni Sarti: “You need to train young people more and more and direct them towards the nautical sector”. The fair can be visited freely from 10 to 20 and will close on Tuesday 25 April.