The balearic nautical sector maintains on slow track

Even though of the bad weather conditions that occurred in the Balearic Islands in June, coinciding with the beginning of the nautical season, and of the problems that weighs down the economy on the whole, the nautical sector shows off his muscles, presenting an enviable state of the Islands, epicentral of the national nautical market.

The kick off of the year registered a moderate growth, of at least a segment of registrations of recreational boats. According to the facts gathered up by ANEN, the first six months of 2023 there has been 685 registrations for recreational boats in the Balearic Islands, which supposes a light descent of 4,73% with in respect of at the same time period of the last practice. With these numbers, in the Islands it has accumulated an 18% of nautical national market, locating itself as a provincial leader in registrations. As to the nautical charters, the Archipelago continues to lead this subject, with a 30% of market share. All of this in a national context is that “the sector is watching a slow down in the registrations of recreational boats which affects especially those destined to a private use of the segments of eight foot long ships”, according to ANEN, the national nautical patronal.

In any case, the exceptional tourist season that seems to be living in the Balearic Islands prefigures a favorable scenario for nautical tourism, with an increase with the visitors and an increase of its waste. “We found ourselves in the full summer season and we can see a slowing down of the numbers, the season of a user level is considered positive. The nautical tourists, national as the international ones, have incorporated the navigation as part of their holiday leisure and one only has to observe the increase of the charts to realize  that everytime it is more and more the tourists that want to spend time on board. The reservations of the moorings of the ports, clubs and sporty marinas of our coastline are having to put up a poster of fully booked, in the areas of the Mediterranean and also with good behavior in other zones” comments Jordi Carrasco, general director of ANEN.

The sector of the actual nautical season is in line as the real first one in normal conditions after the pandemic break, as the 2022 season was marked by stock problems derived from the international logistics due to the pandemic, which resulted in a problem to satisfy the high demands registered. To this was added the uncertainty and increase of the inflation resulting from the Ukrainian war, which began February from last year, which also made the chain of supplies much more expensive.

“This year we are paying the uncertainty and the inflation of last year. It was not normal that in full economic shock for the Ukrainian war, there was the euphoria that there was in sales of nautical products and services”, analises Jaume Vaquer, president of AENIB and property of the company of ‘Venta y alquiler de embarcaciones Jaume Vermell Náutica’. “In 2022 there was a lot of optimism, because we sold many orders during the years of the pandemic, and because of that they arrived with a delay. However, the orders were lowered facing 2023, and now we can feel it. At the same time, the increase of interest makes it difficult as well for the shopping, and incentives the clients to wait. To make things worse the weather for the starting of the season made the addicts of the sea waiting at home, that made an impact on the sector, with special effect on the charter boats”, he adds. “In conclusion, we are exactly in the reverse situation of last year, when there was a lot of demand and an insufficient offer. Now, the offer has been reestablished, but the demand is wobbly, because it is in a situation of stand by of waiting for events. This is a tendency which is not exclusive of the Balearic Islands, but happens in the rest of Europe too” he clarifies. “Either way, the perspective of the market is so that it gets a bit more lively as we get into the season”, he concludes.

“The preseason has gone very well, with all the dry docks on the waiting list”, adds Carlos Petisco, member of the patronal nautical directive AENIB and the manager of Escuela del Mar, one of the companies nautical training most important of the Balearic Islands, and of the charter company Náutica Colonia. With respect to the nautical schools, “this year the numbers of students have decreased a little, before the pandemic years there was a boom with the degrees”. The last years, in the nautical sector there was an increase of interest by the society to start practicing navigation, as a secure alternative of leisure and tourism, something that was noticeable in the nautical training.

Like so, the students of PER and PNB increased around 30%, those of the Yacht Captain and Yacht Skipper a 40% and those of Licensed of Navigation grew in a shooting way in all the nautical schools in the Balearic islands. “In the pandemic, many people discovered the sea. People who never thought of renting a boat felt encouraged as there were restrictions of going to the beach and to avoid being infected by others. Many realized that for a more reasonable price they could spend time at sea with a rented boat, and they seemed to like it”, he indicates. Now the demand has decreased in a natural cycle”, he points out.

As to the nautical charter, “the month of May was of low activity due to the bad weather”. Either way, “the lack of moorings is still one of the principal handicaps that the nautical sector has  in our islands. That is why alternatives like the navigation clubs or the dry marinas have a lot to say in the future of the sector”, he confirms.

At this point, the navigation clubs establish a new formula to democratize the nautical world and so that more people have access to it. These clubs offer the users the opportunity to enjoy sailing during the whole year without any costs and obligations deriving from having a boat in property, offering a disposition of the users a fleet of boats which can be used in return of a periodic subscription and without having to worry about the maintenance, mooring, insurance, etc. This modality has been in our country less than a decade, but it is growing with strength. In fact, this year the Asociación de Clubes de Navegación de España (ACNE), linked to AENIB, with a hundred clubs registered in all of Spain and broadening.

Kristian Sandberg, general manager of Spain of Agapi Boat Club, indicates that “the beginning of the season has been somewhat slower than last year, due to the unstable climate conditions of the last couple of weeks and the complicated world economic context, which has affected specially the economies of the north of Europe. These are the factors that have postponed the beginning of the season, but the activities have ascended nearly up to 100%, so we have the expectations that we will recuperate throughout the season”, he analyzes. “Either way, as we notice year by year, this modality of enjoying sailing, with sustainability as our flag, is being extended in an unstoppable way”, he concludes.