Entitled “Marinas Empowering Tourism and Economies”, the ICOMIA World Marinas Conference came to a successful conclusion last October, despite having been postponed and being subject to pandemic-related travel restrictions in various countries. The event attracted over 200 delegates from 24 countries, bringing together an informed and innovative view of the state of the industry.
Participating as speakers, various TransEurope Marinas members were present at the conference, including Roberto Perocchio from Marina Cavallino, Alberto Sonino from Venezia Certosa Marina, and Kresimir Zic from Marina Punat. Idan Cohen, co-founder of Pick a Pier, with whom TransEurope is privileged to be working, spoke on the topic of “Interconnecting Marinas Through Digital Transformation”. Many of the speakers’ presentations can now be downloaded from the ICOMIA World Marinas Conference website, by clicking on each speaker.
Roberto Perocchio, who previously held the position of President of ICOMIA, shared his impressions:
The conference was organised by local host, the Middle East Marina Association (MENA), in the most elegant, functional, clever and vibrant way possible, featuring magical venues, field trips and receptions. Perfectly moderated, speakers provided innovative content and interesting discussions about the future of the sector, and all this was achieved in spite of the logistic problems the organisers had to face because of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the many countries the delegates and speakers were coming from.
The marina operators of Dubai and the Emirates demonstrated their strong commitment to improve their already excellent infrastructures, injecting a level of optimism and their optimism has been contagious for all the operators coming from the other parts of the world.
Rising to the top of the agenda for the future, as acknowledged by international marina delegates attending the event, were the matters of sustainability, functionality, safety and financial prudence.
The high organisational standards of this event will prove to be a benchmark for the next ICOMIA World Marina Conference, due to take place in Marina Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, in 2023.
