Liguria bets on servicing mega-yachts

Genoa - “Italy must attract the professional boating business instead of doing everything to push it away” states Alberto Amico, president of the Genoa-based shipyard Amico & Co, which specializes in renovations on large yachts. Amico is in partnership with the maritime agency Pesto Sea Group and other companies, both Italian and international, that offer products and services to large size ships. Together with companies such as Alewijnse, Amico Loano, Boero Yacht Coatings, Cambiaso Risso, Sat@Sea and Penisula Petroleum, it organized the second edition of “The Italian Job” that will continue until Sunday at Alassio and Garlenda. The goal is to match supply to the demand of large yacht servicing, by inviting Liguria promoters, commanders, managers and builders of yachts from 40 to 100 metres long. These ships often cannot be told apart from small cruise ships and they create a lot of business around the ports they stop at. This year the event went up from the 140 participants of the first edition; this year it is expected to reach 200, 95% of them from overseas. Amico explains: “we want to continue working on this event and make it an annual appointment. Italy ignores the professional boating market, which is different from the local recreational niche, and that is not related to the yacht-building sector. In Italy, service to large yachts is ignored”. As a press release from the organizers states: “The Italian Job” is aiming to become not just a business-to-business networking event, but also a tool for local marketing. It will provide the participants with the opportunity to experience the excellence that the Ligurian Riviera can offer in terms of hospitality and tourism”. The organizers hope that in future editions the public sector will take part in promoting the skills available in Liguria and promote business.

Amico remembers: “last year, the first edition was a resounding success. There was enthusiastic appreciation among our guests. This year, we offered the opportunity for more skippers and management companies to participate. We also improved the activities and entertainment programmes. In total we will receive around 200 guests”. The entrepreneur points out that it is mostly a social affair, but it also provides the opportunity to make business deals. The location, close to the French border, is not chosen at random: “Many of the guests we have invited are resident in France” explains Amico not without a hint of bitterness due to the differences that drive many operators to choose the ports on the other side of the Alps instead of the Italian ones. “And yet - he continues – Liguria boasts different activities, such as tennis courts, golf, excellent gastronomy, etc., Italy has more assets than other countries. Our initiative aims to make people understand that here is a system that works. But this system is created by private businesses that must learn to work together. This initiative is an example of what can be done. Marketing individually is wrong and produces limited results.” There is no recent data about the large yacht business in Italy. The last study is dated seven years ago, but Amico says a new one is in the works. “But just consider that the volume of business of the professional boating sector in the section between Menton and Golfe Juan on the Cote d’Azur, is greater than that of all the Italian coast from Ventimiglia to Trieste”.