Olbia. The third edition of the Sardinia Nautical Fair is already record-breaking. The event, which will take place from 1 to 5 May at the Porto Rotondo Marina, presented in the Yacht Club headquarters, will see the presence of 170 boats, with 152 exhibitors and 140 stands. An event with an international profile, with the valorisation of a sector which in Sardinia has absolute level numbers. To demonstrate the importance of the sector, at the presentation press conference were Giuseppe Meloni, vice-president of the Region and councilor for Budget and Planning, and Franco Cuccureddu, regional councilor for Tourism. «An event that marks the start of the new tourist season, the support of the Region is a must for an important sector, with extraordinary numbers, which in the last five decades, with the crisis of other sectors of the island’s economy, such as construction has demonstrated its ability to be an employment driver – explains the new deputy governor Giuseppe Meloni –. The resources, therefore, are used well. Without forgetting that in Olbia there will be one of the Italian degree courses in Naval Engineering, thanks to the collaboration between the Municipality, the UniOlbia University Consortium and the University of Cagliari”.
The nautical fair. Primary national and international shipyards, tourist service, brokerage and rental agencies, as well as operators specialized in the promotion and distribution of nautical products, will enliven the five-day event presented by the mayor of Olbia, Settimo Nizzi, together with the president of Cipnes Gallura, Gianni Sarti, the general director Aldo Carta, the manager of the Porto Rotondo Marina, Matteo Molinas, and the organizer of the fair, Angelo Colombo. Also in this edition the world of “Insula Sardinia Quality World” will be present, with many events dedicated to the promotion of the territory and its agri-food, artisanal and cultural resources. «Gallura, together with the port system of Corsica, represents the first national destination for mega and giga yachts – underlined Franco Cuccureddu, regional councilor for Tourism, after a heartfelt memory of Carmine Sanna, director of the Porto Cervo Marina, who recently passed away , with which he established the Sardinian port network in 2001 -. This offer must be structured to enhance nautical tourism. One of the first commitments of this council will be to convene a table on boating to arrive at a regional law on nautical tourism and tourist ports, on the model of the one we proposed as the Port Network and adopted in Liguria” Cuccureddu then added: “The ports tourism will be classified with anchors, like stars for hotels, valorising the three large regional shipbuilding hubs, Olbia, Cagliari and Arbatax, in the logic of redistribution of the wealth produced in the Sardinia system”.
Growth. A third edition of the Sardinia Nautical Fair based on three fundamental pillars, as explained by Angelo Colombo, organizer of the event: the presence of boats in the waters of the Porto Rotondo Marina, an ever-increasing number of exhibition stands on the piers and appointments, during the five days of the fair, with thematic talks. These are the fundamental points on which the event is based, organized for the third consecutive year by the Porto Rotondo Marina, Cipnes Gallura, the Municipality of Olbia and the Region, with the Tourism Department. «The numbers of this third edition almost double those of the previous ones, we are looking at an event that grows and consolidates the sea economy system – underlines Aldo Carta, general director of Cipnes Gallura -. There will be initiatives on innovative and advanced solutions to prevent pollution of the marine ecosystem, focusing for the first time on an area dedicated to the latest technological innovations created for the protection of the marine environment”. A techno-green hub, as it has been renamed, which will be able to count on the contributions of research centres, universities and business accelerators specialized in new technologies, as well as a focus on Academies for professional training in the strategic sectors of the blue and green economy.
The expectations. The great nautical fair in May will inaugurate the new tourist season of the village founded sixty years ago by the Venetian counts Donà dalle Rose. «Last year we laid the foundations for this new edition, in which we will have almost double the exhibitors, with a project with great prospects, young but already very ambitious, with which we presented ourselves at the most important nautical fairs – concludes Matteo Molinas , manager of the Porto Rotondo Marina, which hosts the event -. Porto Rotondo is already responding well, we have excellent expectations for the yachting season.”
