From today in Sardinia you can sleep on the boat as in the hotel

From now on, in Sardinia, you can sleep on the boat as if it were a hotel room, whenever you want, and use it for daily outings. Much better than just a “sea view” room…(cover photo ©Letyourboat)

Sardinia, a favorite destination for many yachtsmen and sailors who enjoy boating vacations along its magnificent coastline, is the first Italian tourist destination to regulate the so-called “Albergo Nautico Diffuso” with a law.

Albergo Nautico Diffuso, what it is

About the Albergo Nautico Diffuso “concept” Francesco Della Torre, CEO of Group Y (to which Yachting In Sardinia belongs), who has been at the forefront of stimulating the legislature, told us some time ago: “We are multiplying our efforts through major strategic partnerships with leading global players to take on a new and exciting challenge: transforming the product of the simple “boat” available on the market today in its many connotations, into a 4.0 product, evolved and strongly interconnected with the accommodation facility on land i.e., what we have called the Albergo Nautico Diffuso“. Mission accomplished.

It is an innovative accommodation formula that is in step with the evolutions of a tourism market that increasingly demands sustainable, nature-based experiential vacations. In simpler words, a widespread nautical hotel is nothing more than giving tourists the opportunity to use a boat year-round as if it were a hotel room, while all services ancillary to those on board are provided by the marina or in the marina in which it is located.

Of course, tourists are also given the opportunity to be able to go out to sea by boat, even if it is short-range, locally. There is also no time limit to the “opening” of the widespread nautical hotel: you can go there all year round, even if it is just to get out of the harbor to swim or cruise the surrounding area.

A truly innovative formula–and for this reason the subject of a web talk show promoted by Confindustria Centro Nord Sardegna during the recent Genoa Boat Show–that of the widespread nautical hotel makes Sardinia a forerunner destination in Italy on the subject, thanks precisely to provisions approved last June by the Regional Council. Rules created with the purpose is to help foster the development of autonomous tourism, capable of attracting additional flows to those of traditional accommodation.

Sardinia leads the way, now we need national legislation

Hence also urging the passage of national legislation on the subject, which is still absent. “The regional regulation 13/2021,” explained Piero Maieli, chairman of the Fifth Commission on Tourism and Handicrafts of the Regional Council of Sardinia and first signatory of the same bill, “in fact represents an absolute novelty in the Bel Paese. There were no schemes or reference models. Yet the issue immediately aroused the interest of all the council groups.” “The nautical hotel is a new way of conceiving hospitality,” added Confindustria Nord Sardegna vice president Giovanni Conoci, “but we must at the same time catch up with our international competitors: in fact, there are other countries in Europe that have long focused on this sector.

Quota 1000 boats for 150 million turnover

The spearhead is Croatia, which fields about 6,000 boats for experiential tourism. Thanks to this, about 50 thousand people enter Croatia every week in the summer and spring seasons. In Sardinia today, however, about 300 boats are engaged. There is clearly still much to be done, but this law represents a good starting point. The next goal is to reach a quota of 1,000 boats, a number that would guarantee a turnover of 150 million euros a year.”

“The proposed law is going in the right direction,” commented Assonautica President Italo Senes: “The sector has great economic potential, we now need to give it value and ensure adequate services to tourists who decide to spend their vacations by boat. Also speaking on the subject during the talk staged at the Genoa Boat Show was Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alessandra Todde, who explained, “This is an innovative experience and, above all, one that can be immediately borrowed in other regions that have, like Sardinia, a vocation for nautical tourism. The fruition that can be made by putting nautical and land-based services in synergy can really be a revitalization tool.”

Why the Albergo Nautico Diffuso is not just a charter

It should be noted that, according to the regulations approved in Sardinia last June then, the tourism activity related to the nautical diffused hotel must be run as a business. According to the provisions, recreational units can be granted for use to clients under lease contracts. It is really about a new way of understanding reception for Italy, while in other countries, such as Greece and Turkey, it is already an established reality.

Of course, one should not confuse the widespread nautical hotel with a charter in which one rents the boat with the crew. In this formula, on the other hand, the “hotel facility” that accommodates the tourist remains on the ground, has no crews on board, but nonetheless takes care of all the typical services of an accommodation facility: promotion of the area, customer reception, 24-hour assistance, and sale of additional territorial tourist services.

There are already those who do

Precisely because the format sees the boats as rooms in a tourist hotel residence that, unlike charter precisely, cannot move freely wherever they want. And that is why the navigation areas are in fact limited to the coastal stretch of proximity to the relevant marina: the one in which embarkations and disembarkations are to take place. There is no shortage of examples already in place such as the packages offered by an operator like Letyourboat already well known in the Italian boat vacation market.

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