“Sixteen million attendances last year, distributed throughout the territory with 330 thousand tourists who chose the hinterland for their holidays. In the last year, employed people in the Region grew by 2.7%, more than the Italian average (2.1%) and that of the North-West (1.6%), with a 23.3% drop in young people who are unemployed and not studying. Furthermore, Liguria confirms itself as the first region in maritime transport in terms of share of added value and employment, as well as active companies with values higher than those of other regions. In 2023, Ligurian ports handled 75.4 million tonnes of goods, over 15% of the total traffic of the Italian port system. To this we must add that between ’13 and ’23 passenger traffic in the region’s ports increased by over 50%. In the Italian panorama, Liguria is characterized by the importance of the cruise sector. We haven’t overlooked anything. And we’re not just an amusement park“. He wrote this in a note interim president of the Liguria Region Alessandro Piana claiming the work done in recent years. “Genoa in 2023 was the second Italian cruise port, before Naples and after Civitavecchia – says Piana – To this we must add the investments in the port sector thanks also to the Pnrr through which it will be possible to improve our competitiveness, taking into account that the Liguria is the Italian region to which the largest share of resources has been assigned, equal to 2.7 billion euros, 30% of the total. Thanks to these data and the positive trend of the labor market in 2023 from which it emerges, second the Istat survey shows that employed people increased by 2.7 percent, we can say that Liguria is on the move and the data, despite some contractions due to the international scenario, also tell us about the growth in the gross income of families which benefits from the good performance of the employment. We must strengthen our presence in the maritime sector and proceed as soon as possible with the work on the Genoa dam and the completion of the third crossing to allow an increase in traffic volumes and the opening of new European corridors. The realization of the infrastructural works that place us above the other Italian regions for Pnrr investments will allow us to overcome the structural limits of our territory with an immediate positive effect on GDP growth – concludes Piana – Taking into account that Liguria continues to be protagonist of the blue economy with 10.5% of companies active in the maritime economy compared to 3.8% of the Italian average. Numbers achieved thanks to the commitment of recent years in terms of investments and the relaunch of the territory on which we have worked and on which we will continue to work”.
