28/07/2004 00:00
TW
0

THE boating industry in the Balearics generates between 5'000 and 8'000 jobs and nearly 328'000 million euros worth of business every year.
Companies in this sector have grown by 20 percent since 1999, and their trade represented between 2.2 and 2.8 percent of the Gross Balearic Product (PIB) in 2003.

The regional minister for Economy and Tax, Lluis Ramis de Ayreflor, confirmed these details yesterday during the launching of an Internet promotion for this tourist sector. Also present was Miquel Lladó, president of the Majorcan Chamber of Commerce.

Ramis drew attention to the importance of boating tourism in the Balearics, as according to a study carried out in 2001, the Islands lay claim to 12 percent (19'000) of available mooring space in marinas in the western Mediterranean.

Of the total of these moorings, he pointed out that 72 percent are on Majorca, 15 percent in Ibiza and Formentera and the remaining 12 percent in Minorca.

He also gave prominence to the continued growth of the industry, whose companies have grown by 20 percent in the last 5 years. The money spent on the Islands by those who invest in boating holidays, said Ramis de Ayreflor, is a significant amount averaging out at 67 euros per person per day.

The minister applauded the facility of the new web page, produced in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and constructed with European funding. It is a tool, he said to promote the sector using up-to-date technology. “Balearsnautic.com”, he added, will give another dimension to the economic activities of the Islands and “heighten the profile of the boating industry”. The web page, which has been functioning as a pilot scheme since last 20 April in English, Castillian and Catalan, contains input from a hundred or so boating organisations on which a variety of information can be extracted.

The Internet page was built following consultation with representatives of the boating industry, provides “an opportunity” for further business, said the minister.

It is divided into key information areas, including a section for sailors, with useful information on the weather, ports and emergency telephone numbers; other advice available is on sports, the boating industry as a whole, jobs, services and the “extranet”, a space allocated to those companies which have combined to make up the web page.