Turismo nautico. Una sfida per il destination management

As a part of marine tourism, nautical tourism has such characteristics which require specific approaches to the analysis of tourist demand, tourist expectations and buying behaviour. In the paper, nautical tourist specificities are outlined from a marketing perspective. The paper analyses the peculiar traits of this form of tourism, the differences in comparison with pleasure boating, the reasons and conditions for its development. The need to adopt segmentation policies, especially for the marinas, is also underlined. Nautical tourist ports and marinas can potentially play a role of tourist attractions and act as gateways for tourism flows towards the inland; hence the need to develop them as «nautical tourist destination». The paper wants to answer to questions such as: who is the nautical tourist? what are the qualitative dimensions of nautical tourism? what is the role of nautical tourist ports and marinas for the development of this type of tourist experience? what is the challenge for destination marketing and management?