With an economic impact of €369m along the entire supply chain, occupational impact of more than 2,000 jobs and a contribution of €133m to Liguria’s GDP in 2019 alone, professional yachting confirmed itself to be a major contributor to the Genovese economy and a worthy beneficiary of development opportunities in the region. The study was completed by the European House – Ambrosetti and presented to a delegation on 16 October at a workshop entitled ‘Large Yachts: a strategic resource for Genova, international sea capital’.

“The strength of these numbers and of the study that we present today results from Genova For Yachting’s ability to represent the entire chain, and above all from our desire to work together, sharing our data, balances and suppliers to give an account of the value of our segment and its ability to create wealth,” commented Giovanni Costaguta, president of Genova For Yachting. “But there is more to it than that. Ours is an industry that has its origins in Port, where vessels arrive and are accommodated, but the socio-economic effects, in particular the indirect, spin-off and catalysed effects, create benefits in the city and the surrounding area with a ratio of a third-to-two thirds. This consciousness allows us to tackle many topics and propose measures that can favour the development of Genova’s professional yachting sector.”

During the event, local institutions gathered, either in person or online, to listen to the opinions of regional stakeholders and market commentators who made their cases with the intention of reinvigorating an active, sustainable sector that is well integrated with the city itself and competitive at an international level by showcasing and elevating the trades, professionalism and Italian tradition of the Blue economy. Put simply, the yachting community wants to be a major driving force behind Genova’s future development strategy.

Providing the bedrock for the opinions shared by the various stakeholders and commentators were the figures presented by Emiliano Briante, head of the business and policy impact division of The European House – Ambrosetti. The study, which will be repeated on the three-year cycle, has been designed to measure and identify the socio-economic impact of the superyacht industry in order to identify the development opportunities for the city.

Thanks to the transparency of the 50 business that make up Genova For Yachting, for the first time it has become possible to quantify the total effect of the sector and transpose it into an index – Total Equivalent Economic Impact (TEEI), which allows the study to quantify and compare various economic inputs in terms of a day’s stay in Genova.

The TEEI is a concise indicator that attributes a total equivalent economic impact per stay value for the different superyacht size categories, taking into consideration the direct effect on marinas, on the service industry and shipyards, as well as an indirect effect on the economic chains upstream or downstream and spin-off turnover as an effect of the consumption realised by salaries paid to those employed in the industry and the activated supply chains and, finally, catalysed turnover, signifying the direct spend in the area made by crew members and owners.

The TEEI calculated that a yacht measuring between 36-50m LOA would spend €8,805 during a single day in Genova. This value rises exponentially as the vessel lengths crow, reaching over €45,000 for vessels over 75m LOA. The study discovered that in 2019 the companies from Genovese yachting cluster dealt with more than 1800 yacht stays across shipyards, marinas and agencies for a total of 64,350 days stay, therefore making it possible to quantify the total economic value of Genova’s professional yachting sector in 2019 as being €369m. Furthermore, it was possible to determine the equivalent employment level generated was over 2000 jobs. It was thus determined that in 2019 the yachting sector contributed €133m to the Liguria region’s GDP.

“Working together with Genova For Yachting on this project allowed us to build an articulate and particularly complete model for measuring the effect of the segment, fuelled by some highly detailed and specific input data, which will be very interesting to update further very soon,” explained Briante. “Considering the elevated ability that it has to activate economic and employment benefits for the city and indeed the whole region, this sector appear every more strategic for the growth and economic recovery of the territory, also given a global growing global market which therefore presents Genova with the opportunity to attract a greater number of vessels, beating the fierce competition in the Med.

For a number of years, regions, particularly in the Mediterranean, have been unable to effectively prove the economic impact of the superyacht industry. This inability to view the market economically has often led to the industry itself being overlooked by both local and national governments. The work that has been done by Genova For Yachting and The European House – Ambrosetti serves as an excellent example of what can be achieved through cooperation and transparency.

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