Boaters worth $8.5B to Florida economy
It’s no secret Florida boaters are big spenders. A recent economic impact study pegs their spending at $8.5 billion annually.
But the boaters spend more money on repairs and docking than boat trips.
A four-year study of Florida’s boating facilities and economics counted $5.15 billion spent for repairs, marina expenses and other costs plus $3.384 billion on boat trips in 2007, the most recent year in the study. Boaters took 21.7 million boat trips in 2007.
If a business opened 2,000 years ago and made $1,000 per day since then, it still would have more than seven centuries to go before it made its first $1 billion, said David Harding, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission economist who managed the study.
The 572-page report, “Florida Boating Access Facilities Inventory and Economic Study, including a Pilot Study for Lee County,” notes boating spending supports 97,000 jobs in Florida.
But the report predicts a 1.83-percent decline statewide in boating demand over the next 16 years in Florida. About half the 63 counties in the study will see a decrease in boating by 2025 because of changes in population.
Harding said the study will help state and local governments decider whether to maintain or construct new boat ramps or marinas and where to site them.
“The results of the study show the importance of launch lanes, parking lots and their overall condition, as well as the area’s level of development the number of developed facilities such as restrooms at the ramp.” Harding said. “Artificial reefs, seagrass and management zoning are some of the important characteristics in site selection for boaters using marine access ramps.”
For freshwater boating access, boaters preferred sites with restrooms, presence of marinas and available parking, he said.
The study projects a price tag of $68 million to $111 million to maintain boater access to water at the 2006 level.
submitted by the Gasparilla Gazette