The boat rental market - Italy

The market is relatively concentrated around large European players; likewise, boating activities are concentrated in a few specific geographic areas. The sector is a sub-segment of the Italian nautical market as a whole, which grew exponentially by 12 percent in 2019. The rental market has recently shown signs of recovery after a five-year period of weak growth, driven by a double push on both the demand and supply side as the boating industry gradually democratizes. However, the demand trends affecting the market are different, depending on the sub-segment identified, and also depend on the size of the boats: small, medium and large. Consumers are becoming aware of the affordability of chartering, especially in the first segment-with nearly one in two travelers inclined to charter; and the supply side is proactively following demand by offering a wide choice of boats in many Italian cities, also taking advantage of growing tourist flows. Industry players are also trying to encourage interest in the second and third segments, through marketing campaigns aimed at communicating the affordability of this leisure activity or offering new services such as organizing seminars or team-building activities at sea; but they are threatened by an increasingly competitive environment with the adoption of online sharing platforms.