After the inaugural press conference, the Genoa Boat Show 2017 will officially open later this week, with great expectations and promising outcomes. The 57th edition of the Genoa Boat Show, organised by ‘I Saloni Nautici’, a company fully belonging to Ucina Confindustria Nautica, will be taking place at the Fiera di Genova from September 21st to 26th.
The press conference, held in Palazzo Tursi, was attended by Ucina’s President Carla De Maria, the Governor of the Region of Liguria Giovanni Toti, the Mayor of Genoa Marco Bucci, together with guests such as the Minister of Infrastructures and Transports Graziano Delrio, the deputy Minister of Economy Luigi Casero and the President of Confindustria Vincenzo Boccia.
A significant increase of the domestic market has been remarked: after the crisis in 2011, the year 2016 has registered a positive trend and the insiders wish to soon get to the same results as the previous decade.
The Italian exhibitors attending the 57th edition of the Genoa Boat Show 2017 are 8% more compared to those who took part in the 2016 edition, and foreign exhibitors are 10% more. Among the exhibitors who attended the show in 2016, the 60% have asked for bigger exhibition spaces. Carla De Maria commented: “It is the market itself to prove that the show is becoming important again. 45 shipyards that were no longer present at the show have come back, to which some who had never come before are to be added, leading the number of new companies attending the 57th Genoa Boat Show to 70.”
Among those who are coming back, there are leading brands such as Azimut, Baglietto, Bertram, Arcadia, Cantieri del Pardo and Zodiac, including also Apreamare. The flagship motor yacht for the show will be a 38.4-metre Sanlorenzo, while the sailing boat flagship will be a 24.4-metre Vismara.
This year there will also be more vessels on the water, with more than 80 units. Sailing boats have increased of a +3.5%, while inboard motorboats are a 14% more and outboard motorboats +9%. Boats ranging more than 15 metres in length will be 15% more than in the previous edition of the Show, and the accessory sector has registered a 12% increase.
Even though all conditions are promising, the Italian Government is not supporting the Genoa Boat Show 2017. The funding provided by the Ministry of the Economical Development, about 1,5 million euro last year, has been frozen as the two main associations representing the Italian nautical industry, Ucina and Nautica Italiana, have still to date refused to sign a collaboration agreement and a common strategy for the enhancement of the sector.
Govanni Toti is hopeful about negotiations with the Ministry of the Economical Development: “The boat show is crucial for the internationalisation of a strategic sector for our country, a sector in which we are world leaders. On the other hand, the government seems to be well represented at the inauguration. Seeing the boats afloat and dialoguing, I believe there are all conditions to get at soon as possible to a shared management of the sector.”
The Region of Liguria is supporting the event with a funding of about 300 thousand euro. “We have long been working so to make Genoa become the centre of a nautical pole even beyond the Boat Show” Toti commented, speaking of an edition which becomes a turning point for the companies working in the sector. “We are working on a project by Renzo Piano for the waterfront around the area of the Fiera, to build a centre dedicated to the world of yachts that might be active all year, and we are also working on the all-year use of the Darsena nautica della Foce with the Authorities of the harbour system and the Municipality.” Toti added.
