The Italian boating industry closed 2025 with a new all-time high, as total turnover reached €8.72 billion, up 1.4% compared with 2024. The result confirms the sector’s overall strength, while also reflecting an increasingly complex market in which different dynamics coexist: on the one hand, the resilience of the high-end segment and the strength of exports; on the other, the challenges affecting the small-boat sector for the second consecutive year.
The figures were presented today during the preview day of the 66th Genoa International Boat Show, at the Boating Economic Forecast, an event dedicated to the new edition of Boating in Figures – LOG, the market analysis produced by the Research Department of Confindustria Nautica – Italian Marine Industry Association in partnership with Fondazione Edison and in collaboration with IULM COMAR. The roundtable was moderated by Andrea Bignami, journalist at Sky TG24 Economia.
These 2025 figures once again demonstrate the strength of an industry capable of reaching a new all-time high in a profoundly shifted international environment. However, the overall figure must be viewed in all its complexity: after years of widespread double-digit growth, different performances now coexist across the various segments. Leadership in the high-end segment and the extraordinary international reach of our industry continue to represent major strengths, while the small boat sector is more exposed to the uncertainty and difficulties affecting the middle class worldwide. Being a leader also means being able to understand these changes and anticipate them. The future competitiveness of the Italian boating industry will depend on its ability to continue innovating, investing in skills, supporting internationalisation and creating the conditions for the entire supply chain to grow.
- Piero Formenti, President of Confindustria Nautica
A new all-time high for the boating industry
In 2025, total turnover for the Italian boating industry – recreational craft, accessories and engines – reached €8.72 billion, an increase of 1.4% compared with the previous year.
Employment also grew: direct employees rose to 32,420, up 3% on 2024, while the entire boating supply chain accounts for approximately 170,000 jobs. The boating industry’s contribution to Italian GDP amounts to €7.51 billion, equivalent to 3.32‰ of national GDP.
Behind the new record, however, is a marked divergence between segments.
Italian boatbuilding production reached €5.47 billion (+0.5%). Within the segment, production of inboard-powered craft increased by 1.3%, while, following an already challenging 2024, difficulties continued in the segments most closely linked to smaller recreational craft: outboard-powered boats, inflatable boats and sailing boats.
2025 confirms the Italian boating industry’s ability to maintain an overall positive performance, but also clearly demonstrates that there is no longer a single market dynamic. Italian production is strongly positioned in the high-end segment of boatbuilding and in supplies for superyachts within the equipment segment, both of which continue to support the industry. At the same time, the small boat industry recorded a significant contraction for the second consecutive year, against an international backdrop defined by greater economic and social uncertainty. Employment figures remain positive: direct employment grew by 3%, exceeding 32,000, demonstrating the industry’s production capacity and the depth of its supply chain.
- Stefano Pagani Isnardi, Head of the Confindustria Nautica Research Department
Exports: new record of €4.4 billion
The industry’s international reach continues to represent one of the key distinguishing features of the Italian boating industry.
In 2025, exports accounted for 90% of boatbuilding production, while their value reached a new record of €4.4 billion, up 2.6% compared with 2024. Italy’s share of global exports stood at 21.3%.
One of the clearest expressions of this international leadership can be found in the superyacht segment: Italy once again ranked first worldwide for orders, with 568 units, accounting for 52% of the global total.
Boating represents one of the most significant examples of international growth in Italian manufacturing. Since the beginning of the new millennium, Italian exports of recreational craft have risen from around €0.8 billion to €4.4 billion, increasing more than fivefold. This result places the sector among the most dynamic areas of Italian manufacturing exports and is accompanied by an outstanding position in the international trade balance for motor yachts. This strength does not stem from a single production hub, but from a system of highly specialised districts capable of expressing different skills, supply chains and market specialisations, and of competing successfully on the global stage.
- Marco Fortis, Director and Vice President of Fondazione Edison
The geographical distribution of production is another defining feature of the Italian boating industry: almost 90% of boatbuilding turnover is concentrated in five regional production hubs, while the Northern Mediterranean area between Liguria and Tuscany accounts for more than half of the total. The different production specialisations are also reflected in the international markets served by each territory, outlining a network of districts that is deeply integrated into global markets.
A supply chain that extends beyond boatbuilding
The marine accessories and equipment segment also makes a significant contribution to the sector’s competitiveness, recording total turnover of €2.03 billion in 2025 (+0.4%).
Italian production in the segment reached €1.54 billion (+0.5%), with exports accounting for 47%: a figure that demonstrates the ability of Italian component manufacturers to integrate into the production chains of international shipyards.
Overall, the figures depict an industry that, following the long expansionary cycle of previous years, is entering a more complex and selective phase. The new all-time turnover record coexists with differing trends across individual segments, while internationalisation, leadership in the high-end segment, specialised production districts, innovation and skills continue to represent the main competitive strengths of the Italian boating industry.
