Marinas: History
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Subjects: Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism
Contributor:
Víctor Yepes

Marinas are known to be features related to nautical tourism. It has been defined as a port used exclusively or primarily by pleasure boats, providing services for such boats and their users, and allowing the establishment of a transit between water and land in terms of comfort. Whilst commercial ports are designed to make the port stay of the vessels shorter, marinas are conceived for leisure; therefore, the provision of a pleasant stay is attempted, seeking for a character of permanence more than the mere transit of boats and crews.

  • landscape
  • marinas
  • management

1. Introduction

Marinas are features associated to nautical tourism, conceived as platforms to accommodate recreation activities on land [1][2][3][4]. Thus, the services provided are preponderant activities when dealing with decision-making process in the management of marinas. However, the responsibility of managers does not lie solely on providing accurate services to boats, seafarers and visitors. Supervision over control and good financial results makes successful marina management [5]. Marinas are a driving force of economic wealth [6][7]. A characteristic landscape should enhance a territory and its tourist appeal as a tourism image [8][9][10]. Thus, a landscape in a marina including an environmental quality and scenic views should be able to gain economic benefits [11][12]. Moreover, the communication of the image of the marina, through a landscape character, may also improve business [13]. The previously mentioned facts highlight the importance of landscape in the management of the marinas.

As the quantity of research in the field of marina management is growing, it is advantageous to consider the landscape. Although it is possible to find some documents regarding the landscape in the marinas [14][12], little research effort seems to have been focused on how to approach landscape within management.

2. Marina Management

Marina management has become increasingly complex. Firstly, it entails the balancing out of boat users, visitors, and neighboring residents with technical, economic, social, and environmental constraints [15]. Secondly, the powers of various authorities coincide in the marinas [16][17], thus coordination between them must be managed.
With the aim to tackle the management of marinas, we identified broad indicator issues. Magalhães and Carmona [18] established four interlinked processes in public space management: the regulation of uses and conflicts between uses; routine maintenance; the new investments; the coordination of interventions in public space. Girard [6] has stated that the environmental assessment should also consider economic and social criteria. Kasum et al. [19] determined five categories for the optimal management of resources: safety, educational, protector, environmental, and management indicators. The European Commission [20] identified four key factors for a well-functioning marina sector: environment; services offer; marketing; and infrastructure. Lučić and Luković [5] indicated control and planning as two crucial factors of the successful management of the marina. In addition to providing services and obtaining economic revenue, Janković and Vlašić [21] recommended incorporating a greater interrelationship with social environment into the management of environmental issues and long-term sustainability. Bukša et al. [22] pointed out three specific issues related to the management of nautical tourism ports: development of basic services; seasonal character of the services; location in extremely ecologically sensitive coastal zones.
Based on the previously mentioned criteria, four main topics were considered when setting about marina management: (a) services provided; (b) financial feasibility; (c) environmental management; (d) maintenance. 

2.2. Landscape Dimension within Marina Management

To provide the landscape focus, the selected elements of the marina’s management were analysed, taking into account the landscape’s dimension. Based on Martín and Yepes’ [12] analysis of the elements that embrace landscape within marinas, we confronted the most significant elements of the management obtained previously, with the elements of the landscape in marinas. As a determination criterion, we considered to main aspects: (a) physical and (b) perceived/subjective/social. The first one refers to the visibility properties of the elements, taking into account their size or their number. The second refers to the possibility to create an impression or judgement in the observer (positive or negative), as well as being able to establish links with the image of the marina to be transmitted (Table 3).
Table 3. Marina management’s literature review.
Activity Category Subject References
Services Berths Berthing capacity Social
Port uses Boat handling Physical
  Shipyard and boat storage Physical
  Buildings (direct, indirect and ancillary services) Physical/social
  Parking facilities Physical
  Auxiliary elements Physical
Mobility Access Physical/social
  Circulation Physical/social
Port services Supplies (water, electricity, bunkering, etc.) Physical
Financial feasibility     Social
Environmental management Environment Waste management Physical/social
Environmental compatibility Physical/social
Pollution prevention Physical/social
Water quality Physical/social
Landscaping Physical/social
Surroundings Visual compatibility Social
Other public agencies’ relationship Social
Uses for adjoining land Social
Security Fire protection and prevention Social
Safety and security Social
Maintenance     Physical/social

3. Conclusions

We have carried out a review of management issues related to marinas. We have identified a concern on environmental aspects, specifically on issues related to marine pollution and water quality. Nevertheless, an assessment from the viewpoint of landscape revealed a lack of consistency in the applied frameworks. This review showed that landscape is often excluded from management. Therefore, it seems to be reasonable to establish a relationship between landscape and management.

The ELC has called for the assessing of landscapes, in identifying their characteristics and in defining quality objective. In this way, based on visibility and social perception, it was possible to establish a set or relevant elements within marinas, both from the perspective of management and landscape. This provided a starting point to introduce landscape in marina management. However, the related elements may vary depending on each marina, since each one has its own particularities, whether social, cultural, economic, or geographical. Research effectiveness will be best enhanced through a rating of the elements that constitute the landscape in each marina and how they are managed.

Faced with the particular idiosyncrasies of the marinas, landscapes play an essential role in defining the people’s welfare, the environmental quality, and the scenic views, as well as being an important economic resource. Therefore, it is possible to remark the importance of landscape in the management of the marinas and its consideration as a potential competitive advantage.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/land10080821

References

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  2. Luković, T. (Ed.) Nautical Tourism; CAB International: Boston, MA, USA, 2013.
  3. Ugolini, G.M.; Ivaldi, E. Tourist ports and yachting: The case of Sardinia. Rev. Estud. Andal. 2017, 34, 429–452.
  4. Lam-González, Y.E.; Suárez-Rojas, C.; León, C.J. Factors constraining international growth in nautical tourism firms. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6846.
  5. Lučić, L.; Luković, T. Controlling as a function of successful management of a marina. Dubrov. Int. Econ. Meet. 2017, 3, 469–479. Available online: https://hrcak.srce.hr/187403 (accessed on 8 November 2020).
  6. Girard, L.F. Sustainability, creativity, resilience: Towards new development strategies of port areas though evaluation processes. Int. J. Sust. Dev. 2010, 13, 161–184.
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