The Navy of the Royal Nautical Club of La Coruña.

The World Tourism Organization tells us that tourism is "a social, cultural and economic phenomenon related to the movement of people to places outside their place of residence." Definition that does not specify the means that people use to move from their residence to the places of visit, so, in the case we are concerned about and occupied, the Nautical Tourism, we should add and do so on vessels of all kinds and size, of their property or rented, which, in addition to transport, offer accommodation to their occupants. "

To those who use this "doing tourism", Galicia offers a certain number of mooring points, of private ownership, of autonomous ownership or of state ownership, the last two assigned for their particular exploitation by contract and payment. If the number of mooring points is sufficient, insufficient or excessive, it is not the subject of this article, and this is not the place or time to study their quality. What we have is what we have, and what it is about is that, many, few or too many, are occupied as many as possible by ships on a tourist scale, in addition to those that, in ownership or in a rental regime, use the "resident" ships.

The Marina Juan Carlos I de Sanxenxo.

It is not common, both in Spain and in Galicia, for the latter to leave their own coasts and to sail abroad for one, two, three or more months, as opposed to what happens in France, Germany or Britain. The ships that come from these countries, and the Dutch, Belgian, Norwegian, etc., are regular visitors to our ports, and it is necessary to ensure that their number, as well as the satisfaction of their crew, is constantly increasing.

Portos de Galicia abroad promotes the sports ports of its competition, and does so through a motto: "Galicia, unique port", investing staff, money, and constant effort to make them known in the foreign Nautical Salons in which it opens its own pavilion, what we all value and appreciate. The bad thing is that, to rebuff that promotion, every port, every club, at last, every one involved in the business, seems to go for free and do what it can to make your sardine better located than others in the grill, which I do not think is good or bad, although, in my opinion, it is not very congruent, as the "single port" becomes many, or some, independent taifa-ports.

I believe that a good way to complement the good work of Portos de Galicia would be a unified and direct collaboration with the great ports - base of the foreign yachts that visit us, and for this I will refer to one I know well, as to its Administrators: The association "Ports de plaisance de La Rochelle", which manages more of CINCO MIL moorings in that French city. During my last visit, its President informed me of the following: "When one of its residents is absent to travel abroad, he is offered the possibility to rent his place to another ship until his return, from which he is released during his absence (they have a waiting list of almost two years); in return, he is asked to submit the bills he has paid in the ports visited, thus recovering the paid.". He assured me that the deal is very satisfactory for both sides, and I believe him.

Marina Sada in the province of La Coruña.

It is a common complaint between us that there are many unoccupied places for long periods. There are sports ports that have "up." Pants to save on the payment for the water mirror, so, if we could jointly present to La Rochelle an offer, with annual validity, of adjusted prices that allow to occupy more places for longer, the economic result would be better, because the price reduction would be offset by the increase in stays. If I charge 30 per day (is an example) for five days and then I have the square empty for a month, it will be much better to charge 20 and have that square occupied all month by it or by several ships. Pure arithmetic that the responsible for the economic results of the port that your Club manages seems not to have understood, as the possible agreement with La Rochelle seemed very complicated and uninteresting. And so it goes...

I set out this idea as a starting point so that one day, which I would like to see next, we can unite criteria and establish such an agreement with La Rochelle, or with Plymouth, Hamburg, Antwerp... I see it as feasible and convenient, and I offer from this page my enthusiastic collaboration to all those who agree with my appreciation.

Text: Antón Pelejero Fernández-Roel
Photos: Tourism of Galicia