* Visitor attendance was up 9.2% this year, with foreign visitors accounting for more than a quarter of the total audience
Some 126,178 visitors attended the 56th Genoa Boat Show last week – a 9.2% increase over the previous edition and a much higher figure than initially expected.
According to event organiser UCINA Confindustria Nautica, satisfied exhibitors and increased sales across all product categories indicates that the Italian marine industry is not only recovering, but driving the nation’s economy.
“We are all very satisfied,” says UCINA president Carla Demaria. “There were 33,618 foreign visitors, 26.6% of the overall number. This data confirms that the Genoa Boat Show is the one boasting the largest number of visitors in the Mediterranean.”
The news comes not long after new data was released, showing that the Italian yachting industry grew turnover by 17% in 2015 – more than the 12% growth predicted by UCINA Confindustria Nautica Ufficio Studi last spring.
“The 17.1% growth in the boating industry overall turnover, announced a few days before the boat show opening, undoubtedly attracted many visitors and operators,” Demaria adds. “Foreign exhibitors were back this year, at last, because of the recovery in the Italian domestic market, a recovery that involves all product categories, with no exceptions.»
Alessandro Campagna, Genoa Boat Show sales manager, also expressed satisfaction. “We are already thinking ahead to the 2017 boat show,” he says. “We will work to extensively modify the layout, so as to make the boat show even more attractive.”
More than 800 exhibitors took part in this year’s event, where 1,000 boats were displayed on an area of 180,00sq m, of which 100,000sq m was on the sea. This allowed customers to perform as many as 2,416 sea trials, a significant increase compared to 2015.
It was a particularly strong show for Italian boat producer Sanlorenzo, which signed four contracts in Genoa. “After a moderately slow start, there was an escalation, especially in the presence of foreigners, who accounted for over 34% of all visitors at our stand,” says Massimo Perotti, Sanlorenzo chairman.
Among the long list of satisfied exhibitors was Jeanneau Italia. “Sold out. We have sold all this year’s powerboats,” said Andrea Cagnotti.
Several B2B meetings and technical workshops were also held at the show, courtesy of the ICE Agency (the Institute for Foreign Trade) in cooperation with UCINA, which involved around 80 foreign and 70 Italian companies.
Particularly worth noting was the presence, for the first time in Italy, of a delegation of 15 independent brokers from the Florida Yacht Brokers Association in the US.
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