Nautical tourism is a specific movement of modern tourism and it is one of the most expansive forms of recreation for tourists. The desire for relaxation, recreation and entertainment, and ever faster and a more successful overcoming of natural barriers such as the ones at sea, create basic conditions for the development of nautical tourism. In line with this development, there are marinas and nautical tourism ports, which include in their offer a full treatment for vessels, and moreover a varied range of services such as hospitality, specialised shops, leisure and entertainment. Marina, as a port of nautical tourism, is a key pillar for the development and basic infrastructure in nautical tourism of an area. As such, it is a complex system in which the investment, construction and operation is very important and it should be organised in a rational way in order to optimally allocate resources in the area it is located in. Consequently, this thesis analyses the current state of Croatian marinas and provides an evaluation of the marinas with respect to those of competitor countries, in terms of its developement potential. The expansion of nautical tourism fosters development of the very marinas which in turn supports the evolution of the overall environment where they are located, thus significantly affecting the progress of the entire Croatian economy.