The Vilamoura Marina in the Loulé council area has won the International Marina of Distinction: 2015-2017 awarded by The Yacht Harbor Association. The announcement was made today at the London Boat Show.

The awards is the top one for ‘International Marinas’ with Vilamoura winning the top slot three years running.

The prize is awarded after votes are counted from the owners of vessels that have visited various top marinas with a ‘5 Anchors’ category.

Isolete Correia, the director of the Vilamoura Marina, on receiving the award at the London Boat Show on behalf of Vilamoura World, the new owner of the Algarve facility, said:

“It is with great pride that we have received this important prize for the Algarve and for Portugal. This is in recognition of the work that we have been developing over the more than 40 years. The marina is the pioneer, the largest and the oldest in Portugal. This prestigious award, given for the excellence of the service provided to our customers over three consecutive years, gives us even more strength to continue the commitment to continuous improvement of our services and infrastructures, in order to receive ever better our national and international visitors.”

Vilamoura World has an investment programme for the marina of around €500,000 to improve conditions for its three million visitors. New facilities are being created for marina users and their visitors, and new parking is being developed.

In 2015, Lone Star Real Estate Fund III, acquired Garvecat from Corporación Bética and Algarvetur, thus buying control of Vilamoura now run by Vilamoura World.

Dallas based Lone Star still hopes to attract €1 billion of investment from partners to develop 18 plots of land, grouped under 5 themes.

The marina has always been Vilamoura’s focal point and the company had plans to dramatically improve the look of the entrance area with a new Yacht Club area costing €20 million.

Vilamoura World has yet to announce any buyers for the various development plots which have been marketed since September 2015 when Chief Executive, Paul Taylor, estimated that Vilamoura Lakes, one of the most important assets of the plan with 1,900 residential units and five tourist developments, should begin to be built in 2017.