GENOA - The Italian boating industry as a whole remains in good health and continues to grow, although some indicators call for careful consideration about its future.

As usual, the superyacht sector performed strongly and continues to drive the entire industry, with Italy accounting for 52% of the global market. Exports also performed very well, setting new records at €4.4 billion, up 2.6% on 2024, while marine equipment and instrumentation also posted positive results. By contrast, medium-sized boats, RIBs and sailing yachts recorded declines and are currently the segments facing the greatest difficulties.

While Italy confirms its position as the world leader in yacht building, the competitive landscape has changed significantly compared with just a few years ago. In the upper end of the market, the Netherlands and Germany remain strong, the United States is losing ground, France is struggling, while Poland and, above all, Turkey are emerging rapidly.

These, in brief, were the main messages to emerge from the presentation of “La Nautica in Cifre-LOG”, the traditional market analysis conducted by the Confindustria Nautica Research Department in partnership with Fondazione Edison, held today at the Genoa International Boat Show on the eve of its opening.

The figures were presented and discussed by Stefano Pagani Isnardi, Director of the Confindustria Nautica Research Department, and Marco Fortis, Director of Fondazione Edison.

Opening the event, Confindustria Nautica President Piero Formenti stressed the importance of having up-to-date market data available: “When I was president of the European association EBI, using data produced by us together with the NMMA, our US counterpart, we wrote a letter to President Trump, who was then serving his first term, and within five months we managed to have the tariffs removed,” he recalled.

The figures show that in 2025 the Italian boating industry’s total revenues amounted to €8.72 billion, compared with €8.60 billion the previous year, an increase of 1.4%.

Pagani Isnardi explained that this 1.4% increase reflects very different dynamics depending on the segment. While large yachts continue to perform strongly, supported by the growing number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), the small and medium-sized boating market, aimed primarily at the middle class, is struggling. “Other industries are performing poorly overall, so today we are proud that we can still put a plus sign in front of our figures,” he commented.

Fortis reviewed what he described as the “epochal change” in Made in Italy over the past 15-20 years: “In the past, we relied mainly on fashion and food, but we have since seen the growth of sectors such as mechanical engineering, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and also boating. The boating industry has established itself thanks in part to the combination of two powerful strengths of Made in Italy: technological innovation and design.”

Discussing the industrial district model, which remains a major Italian asset, Fortis pointed out that the boating industry is concentrated primarily around five major hubs: the Liguria-Tuscany cluster, the Adriatic area, Lombardy, and the provinces of Naples and Turin, which together account for 90% of total production.

Returning to the upper end of the market, Confindustria Nautica’s analysis counted 568 superyachts currently on order, representing 52% of the global total, with an average length of 39 metres and a combined length exceeding 22,000 metres. The corresponding figures for Turkey, which ranks second worldwide, are 141 yachts, an average length of 35 metres and a combined length of 6,300 metres, confirming Italy’s clear leadership in this sector.

But who buys Italian yachts, and where do these boats go? According to the study, 41% are destined for the European Union, 11.8% for Italy, 16.7% for North America and 10.7% for the Middle East. According to Pagani Isnardi, one of the issues is the shortage of space available to major shipyards, which limits their ability to increase production even though the market could absorb additional supply: “Quality and style remain our key strengths, but there are still obstacles to production. One possible way to remove them would be to make some of the country’s extensive unused port areas available to the yacht-building industry.”

Fortis also highlighted the particular conditions affecting the global economy: “The critical issue is the huge amount of public, but also private, debt around the world, partly as a result of massive investment in AI. The United States has record public debt, while France’s debt is out of control. As a result, markets are unsettled and purchasing decisions are being postponed. Pressure on interest rates remains high and spreads are widening sharply: the French spread is now well above the Italian one, with a difference of 21 points.”

Italy’s per-capita GDP figures are positive, Fortis added. The spread is a barometer of a country’s credibility, and Italy has gained considerable ground in recent years at the expense of France, which has failed to implement measures such as pension reform and public spending cuts.

Returning to the boating industry figures, Pagani showed that the marine equipment sector accounts for a substantial 23% of total industry revenues, or €2.03 billion, with an almost 50/50 split between Italian and foreign shipyards purchasing components.

The small-boat market, however, continues to struggle. RIBs and outboard-powered boats are down 9.2%, while sailing yachts have fallen by 7.5%, confirming a trend that affects Europe as a whole, not just Italy, and which is also linked to the lack of generational turnover among boat owners.

Employment figures are particularly significant. In 2013, the Italian boating industry employed 16,000 people; today that figure has doubled to more than 32,000 direct employees, despite the continuing difficulties companies face in recruiting staff, particularly skilled workers. Confindustria Nautica is working extensively on this issue through a dedicated training task force operating on several fronts. “We work with ITS technical colleges to train intermediate professional profiles, but we still lack a proper school for skilled manual trades,” Pagani Isnardi concluded.

The presentation ended on a more optimistic note, reflecting the sentiment expressed by Italian entrepreneurs in an internal association survey conducted during the first months of the year, therefore before the autumn boat-show season. Companies operating in the small-boat sector expect to grow by 5.3% next year, while equipment and engine manufacturers forecast growth of 4.4%.

Enjoy the show.

Riccardo Masnata