Blueprint Watersports, managing and consulting specialists in the watersports arena, will be giving a presentation to hotel and resort operators in the region on Thursday March 13.
Tim Hughes, director of the UK based company says that although some hotels and resorts provide watersports for their guests, this is often controlled by third party operators meaning they lose the ability to control safety, quality and earn revenue.
“In our experience, many hotels with waterfront premises are missing out on significant revenue opportunity by not having a watersports provision or by using a third party concessionaire to run a facility. In the latter example, concessionaires may have very different motivation to the hotel in that they are only interested in profit so often have poor equipment, minimal safety provision, inexperienced staff and no clear structure or programme of activities,” said Hughes.
Hotels generally see additional revenue gleaned from watersports as a bonus, yet sometimes end up with only 10 per cent of the earnings.
“A hotel might also feel that using a third party would distance them from any liability in the event of an accident. This may not be the case where a hotel promotes a third party activity on site,” he continued.
Hughes believes a professional facility should be run by the hotel primarily to ensure safety, improve the quality of service, choice of activities and of course, earn revenue.
“Whilst Blueprint provide watersports solutions for all kinds of watersports from kayaking to superyachts, our main focus is on the green sports such as dinghy sailing, windsurfing and kayaking which fits perfectly with the way that the hospitality industry is developing. Such sports have zero emissions and zero noise pollution yet lack none of the fun and excitement of motorised watersports.
“Waterskiing and wakeboarding are popular sports and should be conducted a safe distance from the beach. They lend themselves perfectly to early morning activity while the water is flat and before the beaches get busy. There is still also some demand for jet ski’s but these have to be controlled carefully so as not to upset more people than they please,” said Hughes.
“We recognise that the UAE with its marine developments will become a very busy water area and it is vital that all water users enjoy the water in complete safety and with consideration of others.”
Blueprint Watersports will be exhibiting at the Dubai International Boat Show from March 11 to 15 in association with Art Marine who are the UAE distributors for laser sailing boats.