Crimea to attract cruising sailors to the Black Sea

by Lee Mylchreest on 31 Oct 2012 Several years ago Bulgaria decided to become yacht friendly, encouraging yachts to travel up the Bosphorus through Istanbul to the Black Sea. Now, if a planned marina development becomes a reality, Crimea will soon be adding to the reasons why cruising sailors should include the Black Sea in their touring itinerary.

Investment proposals to create a $1 billion network of yacht marinas in Crimea were presented to participants of the III International Black Sea Economic Forum in Yalta this week.

Yacht marinas with a total of 1,500 moorings are already in the pipeline to be built, the first being in Eupatoria seaport. This first project provides for establishing modern infrastructure for yachts, along with 4-star hotels and entertainment complexes.

In Alushta the project envisages construction of yacht port for 300 moorings and a 4-star hotel complex with 400 rooms.

In Gurzuf (Big Yalta) they plan to build marina for 191 moorings. Plans also include setting an embankment with a Yacht Club, constructing a diving centre, several restaurants, a 4-star hotel with 25 rooms. Conceptual design and business plan have already been developed.

Other yacht marinas are planned for Sudak, Ordzhonikidze ( near Feodosiya), Olenevka (Chernomorsky Raion) and in Kerch.

Finally, two marinas are planned to be built on Lake Donuzlav, one - on Cape Morskoy, the other - on Cape Sultan Ali.

In all, fifteen new yacht marinas are expected to be completed by 2020.

In total, the marinas will offer over 4,000 berths for small and mid-size vessels, each bringing over €5,000 yearly revenue. Apart from these, 1,600 land storage spaces will be built, with an expected yearly revenue of €2,500 each. The project is estimated to bring up to 1,000 jobs to the market. Each completed berth is expected to cost €85,000.

The republic's minister of Resorts and Tourism, Nikolay Marinov, has noted that the current Crimea Border Control legislation must be adapted for small vessels to make checking-in simple. This also will have the effect of stimulating growth in the number of cruising sailors who decide to visit Crimea.