Australian marinas a growing employer

The Club Marine 2015 Health of the Australian Marina Industry Survey released this year 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 has been demonstrated that Australian marinas provide employment for just over 23,000 people per annum. This is a significant increase from just over 19,000 that were found to work at marinas two years earlier.

The strong growth is specifically in contractors working at marinas; up from 7171 to 11,403. Employment by marina owners and marina tenants has dropped slightly but in a positive sign of the economic health of marinas there has been a five per cent increase in marina gross revenues and a very significant 22 per cent increase in average marina staff payrolls from $42,000 to $52,000. Furthermore the ratio of marina staff payroll to gross revenue dropped four per cent to 22.8 per cent.

As an indicator that larger marinas are growing more strongly than smaller marinas the majority of marinas with over 100 boat storage spaces have experienced growth in gross revenues since 2013/14 and only 10 per cnt have experienced a decline. For marinas with less than 100 boat spaces, 37 per cent had growth in gross revenues and 18 per cent experienced a decline.

Approximately 60 per cent of larger marinas expect this current financial year to result in increased gross revenue with only two per cent expecting a decline. For the smaller marinas the percentages are 46 per cent and eight per cent.
               
MIA Executive Officer Colin Bransgrove said these 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. 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 per cent and 23 per cent projecting increased employment. No marinas responding to the survey from these two states indicated any projected drop in employment."

The Club Marine 2015 Health of the Australian Marina Industry Survey builds on previous survey data released in 2009, 2011 and 2013. The 2015 survey is based on a robust 40 per cent sample of Australia’s 346 marinas.

Previous surveys are available for free download from the MIA website and thus most up-to-date 2015 survey report is available for purchase. More at
www.marinas.net.au.