THE OPENING CEREMONY MARKS THE FIRST DAY OF THE GENOA BOAT SHOW THE ITALIANMINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT, DANILO TONINELLI, STATED:“THEDIGITALREGISTERWILLBECOMEOPERATIONALINOCTOBER”CARLADEMARIA, PRESIDENTOFUCINA, THE ITALIANMARINE INDUSTRYASSOCIATION: “THEINTERNATIONALBOATSHOWHASBECOMEASYMBOLFORREVIVAL,951EXHIBITORSBELIEVEINTHISINTERNATIONALSHOWCASE”GIOVANNI TOTI, PRESIDENTOF THE REGIONOF LIGURIA: “THE INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOWSYMBOLISESTHECOUNTRYWEWANTTOBUILD,CAPABLEOFFACINGGLOBALCOMPETITION”MARCOBUCCI,MAYOROFGENOA:“TODAYWITHTHISINTERNATIONALBOATSHOW,GENOAISSHOWINGTHEWAYFORWARD”THE 2018 “NAUTICA INCIFRE” (BOATING INNUMBERS)DATAHASBEENREVEALED:OVERALLTURNOVERGROWSBY12.8%The58thGenoaInternationalBoatShowopenedtoday,Thursday20thSeptember.ABoatShowjoinedbyexhibitorsrightuptothelasthoursbeforeopening,reachingastaggeringamountof951.Theopeningceremonybeganwiththetraditionalflag-hoistingbytheItalianPortCaptaincy–CoastGuard, accompanied this yearbya touching saluteand soundingof thehorn from theGuided-missile Frigate Virgilio Fasan (F 591) on behalf of the Italian Navy, paying homage to theInternationalBoatShowandtotheCityofGenoa.Thecivilauthoritiesfollowedtheinitialdisplaysbythemilitary.MarcoBucci,MayorofGenoa,gaveanemotionalspeech,statingthat,“today,withthisInternationalBoatShow,Genoaisshowingthewayforwardwhenitcomestorecovery.

TheBoatShowcouldonly takeplace inGenoa. It is themostbeautifulboatingevent inEurope,championingItalyonaworldstage”.AdmiralGiovanniPettorino,CommanderGeneralofthePortCaptaincy,salutedtheInternationalBoat Show and the city of Genoa, reminding the vast audience of dignitaries and internationaljournalists that “Thosewho love the sea are never alone.Genoaneeds to know that thewholeCountryiswiththem”.PierpaoloSignorini,PresidentofthePortSystemAuthorityfortheWesternLigurianSea,explainedtheobjectivesbehindrelaunchingGenoa’swaterfront,underliningthekeyroleplayedbytheGenoaInternationalBoatShowandthewilltosupporttheprojectofanintegratedhubwithinthenewDarsena.Following thegreetingsandspeeches fromthevariousauthorities,anOpeningconference tookplace, entitled “Global Champions. Boating and the Winning Country”, moderated by AntonioMacaluso,editorattheCorrieredellaSera.OpeningremarkscamefromtheItalianMinisterforInfrastructureandTransport,DaniloToninelli,who immediately focused on the support the Government intends to provide, stating that, “InOctober the Council ofMinisters will make the digital register operational. Our objective – theMinistercontinued–istosimplifyandconsolidaterulesaimedatgivingvaluetotheextraordinaryskillsattheheartofanindustryasexceptionalasthatofItalianleisureboating,anindustryIhavenowhadthechancetoexperiencepersonally”.CarlaDemaria,PresidentofUCINA,theItalianMarineIndustryAssociation,wasnexttospeak:“TheGenoaInternationalBoatShowisanimportantshowcaseandanimportanttoolforourindustry.WearedelightedtohearthewonderfulnewsfromtheMinisterwithregardstoapprovingthelong-awaitedDigitalRegister.Iwouldliketothankeveryoneheretoday,especiallytheexhibitorswhochosetoconfirmtheirfaithinthisInternationalBoatShowandits importanceworldwide,nowasymbolofrevival”.ThePresidentofUCINA’stouchingwordswerethenfollowedbythosetransmittedremotelyviaavideoofthePresidentoftheGeneralConfederationofItalianIndustry,VincenzoBoccia:“GenoaplaysastrategicroleintheCountryasawhole.ThiswillbeoneofthemostsuccessfulInternationalBoatShowsevertotakeplace.Achanceforbeauty,excellenceandtechnologytofindtheirmosteffectiveshowcase”.Manlio Di Stefano, undersecretary to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, underlined how leisureboatingistheleadingindustrywhenitcomestoexport.GiovanniToti,PresidentoftheRegionofLiguria,continuedbythanking“UCINAandallthosewhohelpedthroughoutthesepastmonthstorelaunchthecity.TodayeveryoneofusisGenovese,includingeverysinglepersonwhoenteredtheGenoaInternationalBoatShow,becausebydoingsotheyhaveshowntheywanttobehere.IbelievethattheboatingindustryshouldbeanexamplefortheentireCountry.Theexampleofwhatwewanttobuildandofwhatiscapableoftrulycompetingontheworldstage”.“HereattheGenoaInternationalBoatShow,Icanseetheabilitytoreact”–emphasisedStefanPan,Vice President of theGeneral Confederation of Italian Industry and President of the Council ofRegionalRepresentatives.“Beautyand competence,whendone in suchaway, can conquer the

world.Thesearetheplaceswherethetruedignityandtrueexcellenceof thisCountrybecomeareality”.MicheleScannavinibroughthisownexperiencetotheconferenceasanentrepreneurandasthePresidentofITA,theItalianTradeAgency:“Agreateffortwillbenecessaryinordertobreathelifebackintoourcompetitiveness.TheGenoaInternationalBoatShowisauniqueopportunity.Thisyearwebrought150delegates,internationaloperatorsandjournalists,toprovideexhibitorsherewithrealopportunitiesandtoprovideallthesupporttheyneedtobegloballycompetitive”.GiovanniDelVecchio,CEOofGiorgettiS.p.A.,usedhistimetoremindItalyofits“abilitytobeabeaconofexcellencefortheworld.AndtodaytheGenoaInternationalBoatShowreclaimsitsplaceasabeaconforItalianexpertise”.FIGURES FOR THE BOATING INDUSTRY REVEALED: DOUBLE-FIGURE GROWTH FOR THE THIRDYEARRUNNINGDuring the Boating Economic Forecast conference, in front of a vast audience of authorities,journalists andoperators, theViceMinister for InfrastructureandTransportEdoardoRixi, Prof.Marco Fortis, VicePresidentof the Edison Foundation,CarlaDemaria, PresidentofUCINA (theItalianMarineIndustryAssociation),thePresidentofAssilea(theItalianLeasingAssociation)EnricoDuranti, the Director of the General Confederation of Italian Industry’s Research DepartmentAndrea Montanino, President of ICOMIA Andrea Razeto, President of EBI (European BoatingIndustry) Piero Formenti and Stefano Pagani Isnardi, manager of UCINA’s Market ResearchDepartment, spoke about the latest 2017 data aswritten in the same-named publication, datawhichisverypositivefortheItalianboatingsector,whilealsoanalysingthefutureoutlookfortheindustry.“An industry followingapositive trend”,aswasalreadystatedby theUCINAPresidentCarlaDemariaduringtheGenoa InternationalBoatShow’spresentationatthepressconferenceheldinMilanon3rdSeptember,“butwhichmustremainvigilantinanticipatingthetypicalchangessuchaglobalmarkethasinstore”.Intermsofnumbers,themostsignificantinformationisthatoftheoverallturnoverin2017equalto3.88billioneuros,witha12.8%growthcomparedto2016(aturnovercalculatedexclusivelywithregardstoactivitieswhichpertaintoboatingproductionwithincompanies).Directemploymentisalsoup(atotalof19,600employees,+6.1%from2016),asistheboatingindustry’scontributiontoGDP(1.87%,13.4%morethanthepreviousyear).Finally,astoconfirmtheoverallpositivetrendofthesector,significantgrowthcanbeseenintheentiredomesticboatingindustry,withanincreaseof16.1%,reachingatotalof1.34billioneuros,andaspecificincreaseinthedomesticmarketforItalianleisureboatproductionof29.2%.Positive results, following the trend across recent years, for export aswell, a sectorwhich hasallowedthenationalboatingindustrytoreacteffectivelytotherecentcrisisthankstotheexcellenceofItalianproducts,recognisedworldwide,confirmingItaly’sworldleadershipintheproductionofSuperyachts(over24metreslong);thespoilsoftheseexportsareparticularlyimpressive,havingregisteredagrowthof83.4%between2010and2017.