Feb 27, 2024

From his NMMA State of the Recreational Boating Industry address during the Miami International Boat Show earlier in February, NMMA President and CEO Frank Hugelmeyer shared some very interesting and thought provoking data. In fact, it was shared both at the Industry Breakfast session and later the NMMA provided a full video of the 20 minute presentation in their most recent edition of their member newsletter, Currents.

In the video, you hear him say that the boat industry is extremely important to the US economy and that it contributes $1 trillion US to the outdoor recreational economy every year. That industry represents a million jobs in the United states. But he made the point that along with many other sectors, we saw exponential growth during the pandemic and with any boom, we need to expect that it will end and that we will experience a period of normalization.

Hugelmeyer stated that this is what the marine industry experienced this year.
 
These days, we’re seeing a high level of uncertainty in terms of future interest rates and as our economy does normalize, more and more other industries and sectors are stepping up to compete for that share of the consumers wallet.

 But here is a thought. While the insights that the NMMA shared in Miami are important and valuable, our Canadian marina operators, boat dealers and brokers, know their customers best. Of course, many may follow the trend but I suspect that a good many of our customers have deep enough pockets to buck the trends. While the broad economic situation should never be ignored, personal situations will sometimes override the bigger picture. For the successful grandparents who want their grade 11 grandchild to continue spending time at the cottage this summer, a new wake surf boat might be a small investment.
 
We sell pleasure craft and for some percentage of our clients, “seize the day” could well drive the purchase cycle. Will you follow the pack or will you be running your own race? Something to think about…
 
Here in Ontario, members of our Canadian Boating magazine and Boating Industry Canada News Week team will be attending the Boating Ontario Regional Meetings with great interest in the coming weeks.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing from you there.

 ANDY ADAMS – Managing Editor