ROME — Italy’s southern boating industry is growing, and its main showcase is growing with it. Registrations for the 22nd Salone Nautico di Puglia have jumped about 10 percent on last year, with more exhibitors expected in the coming months before the show opens in Brindisi on October 22.

Around 200 companies and more than 350 boats from Italy’s main shipyards are expected. The fair runs to October 26 at the Marina di Brindisi, which Apulia has again classified as an international trade event.

A growing share

The South holds more of this industry than most assume. More than 33 percent of Italy’s boating supply chain firms sit there, and 46.1 percent of the country’s berths lie along southern coasts, according to Centro Studi Tagliacarne, the research arm of Italy’s chambers of commerce, cited by organisers.

“Boating can help spread visitors more evenly across busy coastal areas such as the Amalfi Coast,” Richard Eisner, an executive at Boataround, told Italy Now. “Instead of staying in one place, travellers can visit several towns, islands and smaller ports during the same trip, and they can also move along the coast by sea, which means fewer cars on already crowded roads.”

Organisers argue that with targeted investment, better infrastructure, and lighter paperwork, the sector could grow more than 25 percent within five years.

Rome is listening

The fair was presented in Rome’s Chamber of Deputies earlier this month. “The government has shown strong attention to the sea economy, starting with the creation of a dedicated ministry,” said Gimmi Cangiano, who chairs the parliamentary intergroup on boating, diving, and marine tourism.

The money follows. “In places such as Brindisi, guests staying overnight in designated marina resorts also pay the local tourist tax,” Eisner said, “so part of this spending goes directly back to the city.”

The berth shortage

The constraint is space. “It is a priority to address the question of mooring costs and the shortage of berths,” said Giuseppe Meo, president of SNIM, the fair’s organising body.

Demand is not waiting. “At Boataround, we are seeing more interest in sailing holidays in southern Italy from both Italian and international travellers,” Eisner added. “This can benefit not only well-known destinations, but also smaller ports and coastal towns that usually receive fewer visitors.”

Brindisi, where the Adriatic narrows towards Greece, is the quieter argument. The industry has given itself five years to build somewhere to tie up.