The Club Marine 2015 Health of the Australian Marina Industry Survey indicates that Australia’s 346 marinas have experienced significant growth in the number of people working at marinas.
Based on independent research conducted by the Recreational Marine Research Centre at Michigan State University, it was demonstrated that Australian marinas provide employment for slightly more than 23,000 people a year. That is a significant increase from slightly more than 19,000 that were found to work at marinas two years earlier.
The strong growth is specifically in contractors working at marinas; the number is up from 7,171 to 11,403.
As an indicator that larger marinas are growing more strongly than smaller ones, the majority of marinas that have more than 100 boat storage spaces have seen growth in gross revenue since 2013-14 and only 10 percent have seen a decline.
Among marinas that have fewer than 100 boat spaces, 37 percent had growth in gross revenue and 18 percent had a decline.
About 60 percent of larger marinas expect the current financial year to result in increased gross revenue; only 2 percent expect a decline. Among smaller marinas, the percentages are 46 percent expecting an increase and 8 percent expecting a decline.
Colin Bransgrove, executive officer of the Marina Industries Association, said the findings provide a positive indication of the economic health of marinas in Australia.
“The survey indicates that across a range of financial measures the Australian marina industry is in good shape,” Bransgrove said in a statement.
“There are, however, regional variations, as indicated for example by projected changes in 2015-16 marina employment. Queensland and Tasmania marinas are the most positive about growing employment, with 28 percent and 23 percent projecting increased employment. No marinas responding to the survey from these two states indicated any projected drop in employment.”
