Yesterday I had the honour of participating in the ‘IV City of Melilla International Tourism Forum’, moderated by Luis J. Ayala Navarro Director of the Port Authority of Melilla and accompanied by MIGUEL ARCOS director at Estela Shipping and Bartomeu Bestard Figuerola, President and CEO of Alcudiamar.
The title of the round table was “The recreational nautical sector and its impact on local tourism”. The advantages of Melilla in the sector were presented, as a territory located at the entrance of the Mediterranean, belonging to the European Union but, however, outside the Customs Territory of the Union (UCT), outside the VAT area and also outside of the Excise Duties area (there is no fuel tax in Melilla).
In my opinion, the future of Melilla in the yachting industry and, in particular, superyachts, is promising, especially with the forthcoming creation of the Melilla registry, already provided for in the Draft ‘Law on Sustainable Mobility and Transport Financing’, currently in the pipeline. As we already recommended in 2017, this new registry will open great possibilities for Melilla, provided that it finally represents a suitable framework for national and international recreational yachts (which currently does not exist in Spain) and can compete with other registries outside the UCT such as Gibraltar, Madeira, Isle of Man, etc.