Boating’s economic engine may shift gears
Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

A recently released report commissioned by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), titled “Florida Boating Access Facilities Inventory and Economic Study,” revealed the importance of boating to Florida’s economy. However, as good as boating is for the economy, the report indicated there is a need to address critical boating infrastructure now to continue to adequately accommodate boating activities in the future.

The report showed that spending related to recreational boating trips supports 97,000 jobs in Florida, with recreational boater expenditures totaling $8.5 billion. This represents about 50 percent of the total jobs and spending associated with Florida’s diverse marine industry.

“That’s big money and not something the state should be willing to give up,” said Pat Harrell of the FWC’s Boating and Waterways Section. “Because of an aging population, it is predicted that Florida’s boating could decrease by nearly 2 percent. If we are able to meet the demands of changing demographics, it is possible for the state to see less or no decline in boating demand.”

The 572-page report includes an inventory and assessment of recreational boating-access facilities and documents the economic significance of recreational boating. It will be used for public and private planning and decision-making in determining where boat ramps, marinas, boat storage and other boating infrastructure should be located. The project also will result in a database that contains records for more than 3,100 boat ramps throughout the state, of which 51 percent are open to the public. The FWC will develop an interactive Web site that will allow boaters, public officials and researchers to get current regional information on boating access from real-time resources.

Download in sections or as full report (PDFs).

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 10:19 am and is filed under Business and economics, Sports, recreation and leisure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.