Portos de Galicia

The highest boom occurred in the Rias Baixas, with an increase of 14.5%

Portos de Galicia made a balance of the traffic of foreign vessels in the Galician sports ports in 2016, in which the increase in berths was 4% in the Galician ports as a total of 8,167 pleasure boats in Transit from abroad. Of particular relevance was the increase in berths in the Pontevedra marinas, which was 14.5% in the Rías Baixas area, figures that led to the president of Portos de Galicia, José Juan Durán, to qualify the 2016 “historic season” For the nautical tourism in Galicia and to emphasize to Pontevedra like a nautical power since it received in this year a total of 2,536 boats to the 14 marinas of the province of Pontevedra dependent of the autonomic entity.

In terms of origins, the diversification of the supply of these boats stands out. If until recently the majority came from French travelers, in 2016 the election was confirmed by many British and Irish sailors from Galicia as a destination for their voyages. Thus, for example, in marinas such as Combarro most of the visitors were already of Irish nationality, whereas the British are already majority in Baiona. There is also a greater presence of boats that have their port of origin in countries of northern Europe such as Germany, Holland or Belgium, or even other countries more distant as Russia.

According to the data of Portos de Galicia, it is estimated that these visitors made expenses in the surroundings of the marinas in which they tied for between 1.8 and 2.4 million euros, apart from the costs of mooring and stay in The docks. The average stay per vessel in the community marinas is between three and four days per boat and an average cost per night of 150 or 200 euros apart from the port fees themselves. The impact of nautical tourism on the community would be even greater if we add the expenses of the crew of the boats that arrive to the Galician marinas from other points of Spain, mainly of the Cantabrian coast. The president of Ports attributes these good data to the campaigns to promote nautical tourism in Galicia that are putting the Galician institutions in motion as well as to the improvement of the economic situation in general and the favorable climate in the Galician coasts during much of the year