Boating slows down, superyachts do well but small ones suffer

Despite the geopolitical storm that is ripping the world apart and the tariffs imposed by Trump, the Italian boating industry closed 2024 with a growing turnover, touching an all-time record of €8.6 billion (compared to €8.33 billion the previous year). Certainly, however, the sector has begun to feel the effects of the international situation; indeed, the double-digit growth that has characterised the sector's performance in recent years has come to a halt. Overall revenues increased by 3.2% in 2024 (compared to +13.6% in 2023), with the large yacht sector driving the small boat sector. Company sentiment for 2025, then, is anything but cheerful. Illustrating the numbers to Il Sole 24 Ore is Piero Formenti, President of Confindustria nautica, on the eve of the opening of Genoa's 65th International Boat Show.

President, what is the situation?

The final 2024 data collected and processed by our Studies Office are still positive, with the turnover of Italy's industrial sector - shipbuilding and production of marine accessories and engines - growing by 3.2%, reaching an all-time high of 8.6 billion. This figure bucks the trend within a global framework marked by market stabilisation in 2024. When analysed in detail, however, it reveals a clear differentiation in the dynamics of our production mix: on the one hand, the high-end and superyacht segments, which drive growth and confirm their global leadership, and on the other hand, the small boat segment, which instead records a drop in turnover of around -10%. The difficulties in this segment derive from a combination of factors, including the interference in some markets of high stocks of pleasure craft, growing geopolitical tensions, a drop in consumer confidence, together with a national regulatory regime that is still too bureaucratic.

And for 2025 what do you expect?

Based on the sentiment of the main Italian operators, the suffering factors of the small boating industry, combined with the effects of the trade uncertainty of US tariffs, could lead to a worldwide slowdown of the sector in 2025. However, we will have to wait until the first months of next year to know the first official preliminary data. The sustained growth that characterised the Italian marine industry in recent years, post-pandemic, with turnover doubling in a four-year period, can be considered archived, with 2025 marking the pace globally. The reassuring aspect is that entrepreneurs are expecting a recovery already in the two-year period 2026-2027: the prodromes of this trend reversal could already be visible at the end of our 65th Boat Show, where new models and a strong focus on new market demands and trends could trigger a renewed confidence in the sector, on the part of shipowners.