Press Conference 16.03.2013 – 11,00 A.M. MOSCOW BOAT SHOW - PAVILLION 3, STAND A 392 The Italian Yacht Harbours welcome the new Russian guests. The Italian Yacht Harbours, most of which are members of the Italian Marina Association ASSOMARINAS, are experiencing a positive growth of Russian and Ukrainian visitors, who are now starting to enjoy navigation along the 8000 kilometers of beautiful Italian coast. Hundreds of them are already regular guests of the harbours, transiting each year with charter boats or joining sailing races thanks to the many nautical events organized by Italian Yacht Clubs. Russian companies specialized in boating events are also promoting sailing races in Italy in combination with typical wine and food producers. Marinas are flourishing in Italy, since the Italian boatyards are among the strongest yacht producers in the world, and the Italian boating market has been booming in the last 20 years, supporting the development of many new elegant, modern and state of the art marina projects in most of the best gulfs and bays of the Italian peninsula. Italy counts today 160.000 marina berths, of which 14.000 have been created in the last 5 years, thanks to new regulations allowing the approval of the private investment initiatives through a one stop shop, which means a local commission with the power of choosing the best proposal for a new development. Thus, 20.000 additional marina berths are under construction nowadays, especially in central and southern Italy, in locations that have become easier to be reached by the customers thanks to the many new low-cost European flight connections. Most of the new marinas are designed for international customers with yachts of big size, and the length of the berths ranges from a minimum of ten meters to a maximum of 100 meters, since the presence of super yachts in Italian waters has been steadily increasing. Thanks to all these efforts made by private investors, it has become easy and comfortable to more a yacht at a competitive price both in the refurbished waterfronts of ancient and enchanted coastal cities and in modern marina-resorts with a trendy and exclusive atmosphere. All Italian marinas are becoming used to the presence of Russian guests, and the number of employees who can speak Russian is increasing, together with the choice of restaurants and shops where the explanations are given in Russian to make the new guests feel more comfortable. The feeling between Italian marina operators and the new guests seems to be excellent, the Russian people are fond of watersports and get easily acquainted with the traditional central European customers of the Italian marinas. They like the typical Italian warm evenings and late night parties, and enjoy the immense variety of boating gadgets available in the marina chandlery shops. All visitors show a deep interest for the Italian history and for its cultural sites, and marina operators spend a lot of time informing the Russian guests about the most interesting itineraries to explore the territory or to navigate towards hidden coastal treasures like marine sanctuaries or exclusive beaches. So year by year, Italian marinas are witnessing an increased number of yachts run by Russian tourists, who are taking advantage of easier visa regulations, but also longer mooring contracts, since the ones who tried the Italian waters become fidelized guests and seem interested to stay also during winter season. В семинаре приняли участие представители яхт- клубов, марин, Российской яхтенной ассоциации