Australian marina research underway

All 356 marinas in Australia are currently being invited to participate in the second Health of the Australian Marina Industry Survey.

This national survey is being conducted by the Marina Industry Association (MIA) in association with the Recreational Marine Research Centre (RMRC) at Michigan State University. The previous survey found that in 2010/11 the direct permanent and casual employment generated by marinas was 15,900 (excluding contractors) and that marinas generated $1.65b in gross revenues. 

MIA Executive Officer Colin Bransgrove said the 2011 survey received excellent support by marinas and this resulted in high-quality information that has been widely used to promote the importance of marinas. "State comparative data has also been useful in assisting industry when governments have proposed additional charges such as a SA local government minimum rate on boat storage and TasWater proposing a rate on new marina infrastructure," he said.

"The more marinas that enter data the better the information is. Marina owners and managers can use the information for promoting and protecting our industry and also in benchmarking their performance against like marinas across a range of performance indicators."

The online survey is being provided to all marinas via email. Marinas will need to refer to data from their end of financial year tax information to assist in completing the survey. RMRC adheres to the strictest protocols with regards to data confidentiality and only aggregated data is published. Any marina in Australia that would like to participate in the research and receive a free copy of the research report but has not been contacted should contact the MIA.