An international consulting firm recently issued a report saying that Middle East and North African (MENA) countries are presented with a “major opportunity” to develop their tourism infrastructures. The report, authored by Fadi Majdalani, partner, and Alessandro Borgogna, principal, at Booz & Company, said governments and private investors would “reap significant benefits” by building more high-end marinas along MENA coastlines.

“Nautical tourism boosts regional economies by encouraging foreign spending on domestically produced goods and services, increasing governmental revenues through taxes, and creating employment,” said Majdalani, in a statement. “MENA governments, supported by private-sector players, will need to create an environment conducive to the sector’s development in order to make the most of their marine assets.”

Borgogna said that construction of luxury marinas has been under way for about a decade. “The region has seen an explosion in the construction of marinas,” he said. “The UAE , Egypt, Bahrain, and Qatar have been spending billions of dollars to vie for the title of the “Yacht Capital” of the region.”

But the marina complexes will “fall short of demand” for their services. “The demand for marina berths is expected to more than double by 2015 to about 82,000 berths, with the GCC and Egypt expected to account for the bulk of the demand,” said Majdalani. “Further, if MENA governments take the right steps to develop the sector, this number could approximately quadruple by 2025.”

The study noted that developers would need to invest between US$200bn and US$300bn in the next 15 years. "The development of marina leisure resources must keep pace with the growing demand if the MENA region is to achieve the economic benefits that marine tourism can bring,” he said.

The authors told IBI that these projections were based on GDP growth, HNWI (high net worth individuals) growth and marina berthing capacity in the region.

Egypt has already started to develop tourism marinas on the Red Sea and along the Mediterranean coast. In the GCC region, by contrast, most marinas are part of mixed use developments in large complexes.

Majdalani said that political events in Egypt might delay some marina developments in the short term. “Longer term, the fundamentals for Egypt are strong, and the industry is likely to solidly grow,” he said.

But marina growth could depend on government action. “Especially if the government facilitates customs procedures in the Egyptian marinas, involves the private sector in the development of marinas infrastructure and services, attracts international service providers, nurtures the local nautical culture, and promotes the local marinas to raise awareness of the Egyptian marinas,” said Majdalani.

The authors called on all MENA governments to make the regulatory environment more “user-friendly” to consumers and operators, and to “nurture the nautical culture as an important prerequisite in stimulating demand growth” in local marinas. The study also said that a network of marinas needs to be established in the region to create a “natural cruising circuit” for yachtsmen and sailors.

“The public sector should focus on setting up a comprehensive master plan to combine all the elements of the marina sector development and involve the private sector in executing the government vision,” concluded the authors.