Blue Tourism, an example of a bid for a real and true sustainable seamanship

One of the hot topics of last ANEN’s Nautical Congress, celebrated last March in Málaga, was sustainability and its concrete application inside the nautical field. José Luis Fayos, president of the Sustainability Committee of the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA) and advisor of internationalization of ANEN, through a conference.

During his intervention, he pointed out that the implementation of sustainability protocols will serve Spain to gain competitiveness in the international nautical market, due to the high availability of renewable energies with which our country counts. “ANEN is at the disposal of all the field’s companies to help them in this path”, he assured.

In this sense, Gustavo Santana, general director of the Merchant Marine at that time, pointed out during his intervention in the Nautical Congress that “sustainability, which also applies to recreational seamanship, is not only decarbonizing and designing electrical boats: actions from the field are also necessary, a responsible field that knows what it lives by and what is a motor and a font of sustainability initiatives to maintain the richness we have in the coast.”, in his opinion.

Well, in the Balearics, one of the main pillars of the nautical field on a national and international level, we have some leading enterprises regarding environmental compromise. One of them is Sa Calma Boats Mallorca, that develops since last year an educational marine program in collaboration with Vellmarí Association, ONG and led by the National Geographic Manu San Félix explorator.

The program, named ‘Blue Tourism’, has constated of a 100 marine workshops that have impacted over 5.000 tourists of 39 nationalities, highlighting specially the education on the importance of posidonia oceanica meadows and biodiversity in the Mediterranean. All of that thanks to a team of 8 sailors and 2 captains, who have received training to acquire a solid base of knowledge that allows them to act as ambassadors of sustainability.

According to the results of the program presented by Sa Calma Boats, a 65% of the participants recognized having increased their awareness about marine conservation and assumed a firmer commitment with sustainable practices in their daily lives. The program “shows how the environmental sensibilization, educational activities and tourism combination can generate a positive impact on the visitors as well as the environment”, according to the enterprise, that has presented their strategic ideas for 2025 with the objective of moving forward a more sustainable nautical tourism

This way, educational activities are being amplified to other key spots of the Balearic Islands, contributing to tourism decentralization and its positive impact on local communities. Efforts to innovate in marine education are also added, introducing interactive tools, such as QR codes, educational videos and new workshops that focus on the plastic problem and its impact on the marine ecosystems. In addition, activities that promote not only that the environmental impact decreases, but that generate tangible benefits for biodiversity, such as posidionia oceanica planting and microplastics recollection during excursions, according with the principles of regenerative tourism.