THE HAGUE: PRESENTATION OF THE 63rd GENOA INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW

The 63rd edition of the Genoa International Boat Show, which will be held from 21st to 26th September, was presented today in The Hague during a series of events dedicated to the final leg of The Ocean Race, as it makes its way towards the global challenge’s Grand Finale, scheduled to take place in Genoa from 24th June to 2nd July.

Present at the event, which took place at the Genoa Pavilion of the Ocean Live Park set up at the Dutch city’s harbour, were the Italian Ambassador to the Netherlands, Giorgio Novello, the President of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti, the Mayor of Genoa, Marco Bucci, CEO of The Ocean Race Richard Brisius, and Stefano Pagani Isnardi, Head of the Italian Marine Industry Association’s Research and Project Development Department.

“Genoa and Liguria are ready to host the 63rd edition of the Genoa International Boat Show, taking place from 21st to 26th September – explained the President of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti – An event that finds its natural location in our region, given Liguria’s inseparable

bond not only with the sea, but also with the yachting sector and, more generally, with the marine economy, the true pillar on which the development and growth of this territory rests“.

“With a turnover estimated to reach €7 billion in 2022, the Italian yachting sector is the world leader in the production of superyachts, accounting for almost half of all orders on the planet: figures that highlight the enormous impact the sector has on the economy and employment, which concentrates most of its businesses right in Liguria. In addition, Liguria is the first Italian region in terms of added value in the shipbuilding sector, achieving more than €279 million in 2021, and in terms of number of workers across the sector, reaching more than 3,400 employees. From a tourism standpoint, Liguria is Italy’s number one destination for number of registered yachts (over 18,000 out of a total of about 84,000 in 2021) and second destination for the number of available berths (over 21,600 out of a total of over 166,000).

The 2023 Genoa International Boat Show will see over 1,000 boats on display, all, of course, at the Fiera di Genova venue: a symbolic and iconic location, which is increasingly connected to the city and is changing its appearance thanks to the magnificent Eastern Waterfront project, designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano. As early as this year, all Genoa Boat Show participants will be able to admire the new navigable canals that have brought the waters of the Mediterranean even closer to the city, making the unbreakable bond that ties Liguria to the sea, a key element of its identity, even closer“.

Genoa Mayor Marco Bucci then continued: “The Genoa International Boat Show is an event that brings our city to the forefront on the global stage, allowing it to grow and become more and more attractive not just for tourists and industry enthusiasts. From 21st to 26th September, Genoa will be returning once again as the world’s yachting capital, hosting the oldest historic event for yachting enthusiasts: the Genoa International Boat Show, a consolidated point of reference for the very best of Italian production, with a focus on a driving industry at the heart of the country’s economy. Today, only a few days before the celebration of The Ocean Race Grand Finale in Genoa, we presented the upcoming edition of an event that will star at the centre of one of the greatest infrastructural revolutions of our city: the construction of the new Eastern Waterfront. Areas that we are gradually renovating, with a large construction project that demonstrates how our city is constantly looking to the future, which will come to life for the first time for the Ocean Live Park, a large race village dedicated to The Ocean Race, from 24th June to 2nd July 2023.”

Stefano Pagani Isnardi, Head of the Research and Project Development Department of Confindustria Nautica (the Italian Marine Industry Association), provided further details about the upcoming edition of the Genoa International Boat Show: “Today is a unique opportunity to present the 63rd edition of Genoa International Boat Show to the global audience of The Ocean Race, an event that is always evolving, ready to welcome the industry’s latest and most defining designs and innovations from 21st to 26th September in an exhibition layout that combines design and sustainability, thanks to the realisation of the new Eastern Waterfront project designed by Renzo Piano. Construction will be completed in 2024. In the meantime, the recent opening of the navigable canals, the spectacular island that frames the Blue Pavilion, and the new exhibition quays that will host 200 new berths starting this year, already make the Genoa International Boat Show one of the world’s most unique stages.

The Italian yachting industry is as healthy as ever, closing 2022 as a record year. Among the determining factors fuelling this growth was making the most of the increase in shipbuilding exports, which reached €3.4 billion. The boating industry is a complex and articulated supply chain that records the highest activation coefficients and counts almost 19,000 local production units, for an added value of more than €11 billion and over 187,700 employees. For every one person employed in the sector’s production cycles, 9.2 jobs are activated; every euro invested in production activates 7.5, as measured by the Edison and Symbola Foundations, the scientific research partners of the Italian Marine Industry Association.”

During the same morning, the Mayor of Genoa met with the Mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, who signed, in the presence of Richard Brisius, a document endorsing the principles that lie at the heart of the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights, which will be written at the end of the Ocean Summit scheduled to take place in Genoa on 27th June.

The Mayor of Genoa and Italy’s Ambassador to the Netherlands also received The Ocean Race official flag from the Dutch authorities in anticipation of the Grand Finale in Genoa and the official opening of the Ocean Live Park within the new Eastern Waterfront on Saturday 24th June.