Blue Marina Awards: the Excellence for Marinas

The Blue Economy is a concrete driver of the future. Marinas are not merely “boat parking” areas: they are gateways to local territories, places where hospitality, innovation, sustainability, and inclusivity come together.

And yet, in the collective imagination, many tourist port facilities are still perceived as spaces “for a few,” accessible only to those who own a boat.

That is not the case. Changing this perspective means creating value: tourist ports are places of history and tradition, capable of connecting land and sea, and embedded in unique settings. When designed and managed as service and experience hubs, they can offer high-quality, more deseasonalized, and more inclusive hospitality, helping bring new people closer to the sea and recreational boating.

The Blue Marina Awards were created to support this shift: a pathway that enhances all types of facilities—regardless of size or location—helping them become centers of excellence integrated with their territories, sustainable, innovative, and capable of generating widespread value. A marina that evolves in this direction becomes a driver for discovering everything around it: culture, food and wine, sport, and nature.

As Felix Leinemann, Head of Blue Economy at the European Commission, has stated, the initiative is aligned with European priorities: a pathway that raises awareness and guides facilities toward pragmatic actions to become centers of excellence.

The potential is enormous: the Mediterranean is one of the world’s leading tourist destinations and captures a significant share of international travel flows.
The challenge—and the opportunity—is to transform tourist ports into open, vibrant, and recognizable places, capable of attracting not only boaters, but also a wider audience seeking authentic sea-related experiences.