Italian leisure boating industry posts record €8.72bn revenue in 2025

Italy's recreational boating industry closed 2025 with revenue of €8.72 billion, an all-time high and an increase of 1.4% on 2024. The figures were presented in Genoa at the preview of the 66th International Boat Show, during the Boating Economic Forecast session built around the new edition of La Nautica in Cifre – LOG, the market analysis produced by the research office of Confindustria Nautica in partnership with Fondazione Edison and in collaboration with IULM COMAR. The roundtable was moderated by Sky TG24 Economia journalist Andrea Bignami, according to La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, which carried the Adnkronos report.

The total covers pleasure craft, accessories and engines. Direct employment rose 3% to 32,420 people, while the wider boating supply chain accounts for roughly 170,000 jobs. The sector's contribution to Italian GDP is €7.51 billion, equal to 3.32 per mille of national output.

Shipbuilding growth concentrated in inboard craft

National shipbuilding production reached €5.47 billion, up 0.5%. Within that total, output of inboard units grew 1.3%, while the segments tied to small boats — outboard craft, inflatables and sail — contracted for a second consecutive year after an already difficult 2024, as reported by Vela Veneta.

Stefano Pagani Isnardi, director of the Confindustria Nautica research office, said Italian output is strongly positioned in high-end shipbuilding and in equipment supplied to superyachts, segments that continue to support the sector, while the small-boat industry recorded a significant contraction for the second year running in an international context marked by greater economic and social uncertainty. He noted that direct headcount still grew 3% and passed 32,000, which he described as evidence of the depth of the supply chain.

Exports and superyacht orders at record levels

Exports were the main driver. The value of shipbuilding exports rose 2.6% to a record €4.4 billion, with the export share of Italian shipbuilding output reaching 90%. Italy's share of world exports stands at 21.3%. In superyachts, Italy remains the leading country by orders with 568 units, equal to 52% of the global total, a share highlighted by ShipMag.

• Total industry revenue: €8.72 billion, up 1.4%
• Shipbuilding production: €5.47 billion, up 0.5%
• Shipbuilding exports: €4.4 billion, up 2.6%, 90% of output
• Superyacht orders: 568 units, 52% of the world total
• Accessories and equipment revenue: €2.03 billion, up 0.4%

Marco Fortis, director and vice-president of Fondazione Edison, said Italian exports of pleasure craft have risen from about €0.8 billion at the start of the new millennium to €4.4 billion, more than a fivefold increase. That places the sector among the most dynamic parts of Italian manufacturing exports and gives it a prominent position in the international trade balance for motor yachts. He added that the result comes not from a single production centre but from a system of highly specialised districts.

Equipment suppliers and five production hubs

Accessories and equipment generated revenue of €2.03 billion, up 0.4%, with national production of €1.54 billion, up 0.5%, and an export share of 47% — a sign that Italian component makers are embedded in the production chains of foreign yards. Almost 90% of shipbuilding revenue is concentrated in five territorial hubs, and the Upper Mediterranean area spanning Liguria and Tuscany accounts for more than half of the total.

Piero Formenti, president of Confindustria Nautica, said the 2025 numbers show an industry capable of reaching a new all-time high in a profoundly changed international environment, but that the headline figure has to be read in its parts. After years of broad double-digit growth, segments are now performing differently, with small boats more exposed to the difficulties affecting the middle class globally. Future competitiveness, he said, will depend on continued innovation, investment in skills, support for internationalisation and conditions allowing the entire supply chain to grow.

The analysis presented in Genoa describes a sector entering a more complex and selective phase after a long expansion cycle, with high-end leadership, export orientation, district specialisation, innovation and skills identified as the main competitive factors.