Milan. In 2024, the Italian yachting industry generated over 13 billion euros in added value and nearly 168,000 jobs, with employment growth of 5.6%. These are the headline figures from two reports presented at Palazzo Edison in Milan: "La Nautica in Cifre Monitor – Market Trends 2025/2026", produced by the Research Office of Confindustria Nautica and Fondazione Edison, and "Geographies of the Italian Yachting Supply Chain 2026", by Fondazione Symbola.

The superyacht sector closed 2025 positively, with 50% of companies reporting increased turnover compared to the previous year and 25% reporting stability. The current order book shows a stabilisation of growth rates: half of the shipyards are maintaining their order books at the same level as 12 months ago, while a quarter report growth. This is confirmed by Boat International's Superyacht Global Order Book 2026: global orders fell by around 4% (from 1,138 to 1,093 units), while the Italian share grew by 2 percentage points, reaching 52%, with 568 orders.

Confindustria Nautica

"Today's appointment marks the start of the annual cycle of initiatives through which Confindustria Nautica intends to provide the sector with analysis and strategic direction. In a global context characterised by significant economic and geopolitical change, Italian recreational boating continues to demonstrate resilience, adaptability and strategic vision. Dynamics remain differentiated across segments: large yachting is growing, the mid-range is holding, while small boating is more affected by consumer confidence currently dampened by complex economic conditions. The data from our Research Office is a fundamental tool for companies and institutions to interpret these developments and guide sector strategies." Piero Formenti, President of Confindustria Nautica

Production segments

For vessels up to 24 metres, end-of-2025 estimates had indicated a broad contraction. Surveys for the 2025/2026 nautical year, however, show a reversal: the share of companies expecting turnover growth has risen from 23% to 46%, while those expecting a decline has fallen to fewer than a quarter of the sample.

The accessories and equipment segment also shows improvement, with positive forecasts for 2025/2026 rising from 30% to 39%. In marine engines, the share of companies estimating turnover growth rose from 25% to 38%, with 50% expecting stability. Charter and rental companies are performing particularly well: 57% reported turnover growth in 2025, and 64% expect further growth in the current nautical year. In nautical tourism, ports and services, 75% of companies expect turnover growth in 2025/2026, up 25 percentage points compared to end-of-2025 forecasts.

Exports

"Italian recreational boating stands at the top of global exporters and is increasingly one of the flagship sectors of our foreign trade: in the latest rolling year (November 2024–October 2025), exports reached and exceeded 4 billion euros, recording one of the best results ever and confirming itself as one of the highest-growth sectors of the past decade (fifth overall, considering four-digit Ateco sectors with exports above 2 billion euros in 2024)." Marco Fortis, Vice-President of Fondazione Edison

Fortis stressed that, in the current geopolitical context, the yachting industry must protect its market share by maintaining the quality standards that have allowed Italy to hold over 50% of the global market in its reference segment.

Supply chain and economic multiplier

"The yachting system is one of the most dynamic segments of the economy and one of the most relevant manufacturing supply chains of Made in Italy for economic impact and capacity to generate value along the chain. A leadership built on a first-class productive network, distributed across the territory and integrated upstream and downstream of the supply chain. Yachting confirms itself as a powerful economic multiplier: for every euro produced by shipyards, 5.2 euros of added value are generated across the system, and for every employee in the core sector, 7.1 jobs are created along the entire chain." Domenico Sturabotti, Director of Fondazione Symbola

Shipbuilding is concentrated in key regions — Tuscany, Lombardy, Marche, Liguria, Campania, Piedmont, Sicily and Lazio — which form specialist hubs. The Symbola study highlights a growing concentration of value in shipbuilding relative to the rest of the supply chain, driven by the structural strengthening of the sector, selective consolidation among operators and the progressive internalisation of high-value-added functions.