Sochi and St. Petersburg lack marinas for yachts returning from abroad – Kommersant

The popular yacht clubs of Sochi, St. Petersburg and the Moscow region have almost run out of parking spaces for yachts until the end of the summer, found out RBC. Experts cite the influx of yachts returning from abroad as one of the possible reasons for this situation.

As RBC found out, the network of yacht clubs Burevestnik Group has two largest marinas in Sochi and the Moscow region until the end of summer, almost fully staffed. In Sochi Grand Marina, over 90% of marinas are filled in July-August. The Yacht Club “Tsar’s Landing” in Sevastopol is fully loaded. The shortage of marinas this summer is also observed in St. Petersburg. The yacht club “Svetlana” in the center of St. Petersburg for 50 places this summer is already fully loaded.

Maxim Pinigin, the founder of the Power of the Wind yachting school, believes that the first reason for this situation is the weak development of the industry. According to Olga Shebzukhova, vice-president of the Association for the Development of Yacht Tourism and Marinas and head of the board of directors of the Alliance Marine Development group, there is a shortage of 10,000 marinas on the Azov-Black Sea coast alone.

The second reason is the influx of Russian yachts from Europe against the backdrop of sanctions. The most developed structure for yachting is in the Mediterranean. France, Italy and Spain have the best marinas in the world. However, due to sanctions, they were closed to the Russians.

Anastasia Larina