With less than a month to go to this year’s ICOMIA World Marinas Conference in Turkey‘s Istanbul, organiser Amsterdam RAI has unveiled an amazing sponsor list of 27 key players from the global marina industry. With an exciting speaker line-up and a strong overall programme, this gathering of decision makers and influencers from June 2 to 4 has become a not-to-be-missed event for all marina professionals.

With the theme of ‘Marinas into the Future’ as its main focus, the ICOMIA World Marinas Conference will place the spotlight on the global marina industry and emerging markets. The exchange of knowledge and best practice is sure to have long-lasting value to all who attend the Conference. And these are exactly the sort of synergies that have attracted sponsors such as Bellingham Marine, Poralu Roodberg, Marine travelift, ISPARK, Shenzhen Botongna and DualDocker to add their name and prestige to the event.

Commitment
“The fact that these key players have elected to sponsor the WMC underlines its standing,” comments Robert Perocchio, Chairman of the ICOMIA Marinas group. “We also have many top speakers joining us in Istanbul, including Gary Groenewold (Westrec Marinas), Bruno Meijer (Arte Marine LLC & Marina Division Dubai) and Julian Goldie (The Yacht Harbour Association). With such a high degree of commitment from sponsors and speakers alike, all marina professionals attending WMC 2014 are sure to reap the rewards.”

Simon Arrol, Managing Director of Arrol Ltd, explains his company’s decision to also sponsor this leading event: “There are numerous boat shows around the world but very few dedicated marina conferences. The ICOMIA World Marina Conference is the best and that is why Arrol supports it. While the worldwide yachting industry is worth many billions of dollars, much of the industry only exists because of marinas. With delegates attending from many countries around the world we can be sure that there will be a wide-ranging exchange of ideas.”

Comprehensive programmme
With only three weeks to go the programme is now well established. Among the highlights will be Ronaldo Souza (CMM, Director of Operations in Latin America for Westrec Marinas) giving an update on the situation in South America as well as speaking at the Dry Marinas session. Stavros Katsikadis (Managing Director Flisvos Marina S.A; President of the Greek Marinas Association) will focus on the Greek marina industry and its prospects in the Eastern Mediterranean, including up-to-date information on the Greek yachting market and its place in the region.

Nikos Koutsodontis (General Manager K&G Med. Marinas Management S.A., Vice President of the Greek Marinas Association) will examine the benefits of a network of marinas in establishing best operational practices. Jean-Michel Gaigné (CMM, GMI, International Director of the French Marina Federation) will look at marina management and design, showcasing some of the examples of good practice he has gleaned from around the world. And Kresimir Zic (President Marina Punat Grupa) will speak about the advantages of using modern technologies to streamline marketing and sales processes.

Organisers
The globally renowned travelling ICOMIA World Marinas Conference (WMC) is organised by the ICOMIA Marinas Group in partnership with METS organiser Amsterdam RAI and hosted by Turkish marine industry association DENTUR.