Sicily ranks third in blue economy
With 227,975 companies and 1,040,172 employees, the blue economy in Italy generates a direct added value of approximately 64.6 billion euros, which reaches 178.3 billion euros when considering the supply chain. The blue economy sector has shown significant growth in recent years compared to the rest of the economy. The multiplier effect is increasing: for every euro spent in the maritime sectors, an additional 1.8 euros are activated in the rest of the economy. Employment is also growing, with a 6.6% increase. The recent snapshot was taken during the 10th National Conference on Coastal and Maritime Tourism organized by Federturismo Confindustria, Assomarinas, and Confindustria Nautica as part of the 64th edition of the Genoa Boat Show.
“These results – highlighted by the President of Federturismo Confindustria Marina Lalli – are evidence of the great ability that the blue economy sector has shown in integrating new technologies with traditional maritime activities: innovation and sustainability going hand in hand to promote an economic growth oriented towards the valorization of natural resources. It must be acknowledged that the recovery in recent years has also been the result of concrete proposals and constructive dialogue activities at the institutional level that have been received by the government.”
Returning to the data, Rome is the “capital” of maritime entrepreneurship with 29,806 companies, followed by Naples with 22,943 companies and then Venice with 9,426 companies. Moreover, Lazio is the region with the highest number of “blue” companies with 34,851 units, followed by Campania (32,741 companies) and Sicily in third place (28,807 companies). In total, there are nearly 228 thousand companies in the Blue economy in 2023, specifically 227,975, with nearly half located in the South of Italy and 48.4% operating in the accommodation and catering sector.
The maritime economy has shown to have an edge over the rest of the economy in the last four years. Between 2019 and 2023, blue companies increased by over 4%, compared to an overall decrease in the entrepreneurial fabric of 2.2%, with peaks in the growth of activities led by women (+7.5%) and tourism (+8.9%). This is also highlighted in an analysis by the Tagliacarne Studies Center on the 12th Report on the Maritime Economy presented last August, in collaboration with Unioncamere, Ossermare, Informare, Camera di commercio Frosinone Latina, and Blue Forum Italia Network. This analysis sheds light on the entire supply chain composed of the fishing, tourism, and related recreational services, logistics and maritime transport, nautical and shipbuilding, research and training activities, and marine extractions sectors.
“The Blue economy of companies outlines a sort of inverted Italy in terms of development, with the South reversing the traditional image of an area with lower growth and entrepreneurial presence, while still marking delays in terms of overall productivity of almost 15% compared to the average data of the country.”
This was highlighted by Gaetano Fausto Esposito, General Manager of the Tagliacarne Studies Center, who stated, “If southern companies expressed the same productivity and connection capabilities with other production sectors as northern companies, the added value of the maritime economy in the South would increase by about 15 billion euros.” Furthermore, Esposito added, “especially in the provinces of the South, the existence of a dense blue entrepreneurial fabric also generates further growth, to the point that in 24 southern areas where the weight of blue companies on the local economy appears higher than the national average, between 2019 and 2023, an increase in the number of these companies higher than the national data is also observed.” In general, just under half of the national “Marine System” is represented by companies operating in the accommodation and catering sector, amounting to 110,387 units. They are followed by sports and recreational activities (34,246 companies) and the fishing sector (32,199 companies), with a weight of 15.0% and 14.1%, respectively. The shipbuilding sector contributes over 12% (28,171 companies).
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