Nautical tourism is one of the most important types of tourism in the coastal area of Croatia, and especially in the County, especially because this county is located on the sea, which is one of the prerequisites for this type of tourism. However, due to the growing changes in the demand market, various forms of nautical tourism are increasingly prevalent, with new contents appearing that require changes in the structures of the tourist market. In essence, nautical tourism appears in three key forms, namely ports, charter and cruising. Nautical tourism cannot be viewed as a simple process, but it must be analyzed as a complex system that uses all the patterns and laws of general system theory and the principles of management of integrated complex systems. Namely, nautical tourism is a type of tourism that is affected by other types of tourism, but also activities such as recreational activities that are more characteristic of mountain or sports tourism. This type of tourism is also an important factor in the development of tourism and the Croatian economy, but there are many untapped potentials that can, with a good plan and good development strategy, grow and enable Croatia to compete with other Mediterranean countries. This paper focuses on nautical tourism and nautical tourism ports of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The paper presents the importance of nautical tourism ports in the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County by comparing certain indicators with other nautical tourism ports in the Republic of Croatia. It also shows how much the global pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has affected the business of nautical tourism ports. In addition to showing the importance of these ports, the paper gives an example of the Fiumanka event and Barcolana, which goes beyond the scope of sports competition and serves as an important event for the development of nautical tourism in Kvarner region.