The Barcelona Clúster Nàutic represents a sector that is an economic driving force for the city of Barcelona, the main stop of holidaymakers on their charter vacation in Spain. One of the key themes of this sector in the city is the area of Superyachts, which affects both the ports as well as marinas of the Barcelona coastline and businesses dedicated to repair & refit, as Marina Barcelona 92 and Varador 2000.
Construction of Marina Vela in Barcelona
With the expansion work of Marina Port Vell and the creation of Marina Vela, whose construction started in September 2015, and is scheduled for completion in 15 months, Barcelona will add about 160 new berths for Superyachts. They will be added to the berths for boats over 24 meters that offer Port Forum, Port Olimpic, Real Club Nautico de Barcelona, Mataró Marina and Vilanova Grand Marina, to name but a few.
“With only 5% of world traffic of these yachts the 300 berths are filled, which would represent a huge economic impact for the city. Only in the industrial sector, refit & repair, the cost could be more than 210 million euros a year, while the impact on ports would be about 70 million,” said Barcelona Clúster Nàutic president, Toni Tió.
To attract this traffic to Barcelona, the cluster has carried out an important promoting task with meetings with some of the leading players worldwide in luxury vessels. Moreover, it has worked in the legal environment, with remarkable improvements to VAT for non-EU yachts and the issue of visas in the Schengen area.
The Barcelona Clúster Nàutic closed the year 2015 with 71 members. For its third year, the cluster seeks to reach 100 members.
