Sicily ranks third in blue economy

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With 227,975 companies and 1,040,172 employees, the blue economy in Italy generates a direct added value of around 64.6 billion euros, which reaches 178.3 billion euros if the downstream is considered. A sector, that of the blue economy, is growing rapidly and in recent years has shown to have an edge over the rest of the economy. The multiplier is increasing: for every euro spent in the sectors of the sea supply chain, another 1.8 are activated in the rest of the economy. Employment is also increasing, with a 6.6% increase. This is the recent picture 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 – emphasized Marina Lalli, president of Federturismo Confindustria – are proof of the great capacity that the blue economy sector has shown in integrating new technologies with traditional maritime activities: with innovation and sustainability going hand in hand to promote 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 at the institutional level that have been embraced by the government.”

Returning to the data, Rome is the “capital” of marine entrepreneurship with 29,806 companies, followed by Naples with 22,943 companies and then Venice with 9,426 companies at a great distance. Furthermore, Lazio is the region most populated by “blue” companies with 34,851 units, followed by Campania (32,741 companies) and Sicily in a strong third place (28,807 companies). In total, nearly 228,000 in 2023, more precisely 227,975, are blue economy companies, with almost half located in the South and 48.4% operating in accommodation and food services.
The maritime economy in the last four years has demonstrated to have an edge over the rest of the economy. Between 2019 and 2023, blue companies increased by over 4%, against an overall decrease in the entrepreneurial fabric of 2.2%, with peaks of growth of activities led by women (+7.5%) and tourism (+8.9%). This is also evident from an analysis by the Tagliacarne Studies Center on the XII Report on the marine economy presented last August and carried out in collaboration with Unioncamere, Ossermare, Informare, Frosinone Latina Chamber of Commerce, and Blue Forum Italia Network that shed 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, and marine extractions sectors. “The blue economy of companies outlines a kind of inverted Italy in terms of development, with the South reversing the traditional image of an area of lower growth and entrepreneurial presence, albeit continuing to mark delays in overall productivity of almost 15% compared to the national average.”

This was highlighted by Gaetano Fausto Esposito, general manager of the Tagliacarne Studies Center, who stated that “if southern companies were to demonstrate the same productivity and ability to connect with other productive 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 realities where the weight of blue companies on the local economy appears higher than the national average, between 2019 and 2023 there is also an increase in the number of these companies higher than the national data.” In general, just under half of the national “maritime system” is represented by companies operating in the accommodation and food services sector, amounting to 110,387 units. This is followed by sports and recreational activities (34,246 companies) and the fishery sector (32,199 companies), with weights of 15.0% and 14.1% respectively. The contribution of the shipbuilding sector exceeds 12% (28,171 companies).