COVID-19 hits European boating hard, but recovery on the way

However, many businesses in the European Union remain optimistic, with two out of every three companies confident that consumer interest in boating will increase in the short term, the latest EU Blue Economy report suggests.

The report shows 35 per cent of Europe’s marine businesses posted an increase in revenue – marinas are doing particularly well out of the pandemic as boat owners take the opportunity to have work done on their rides – while half of the survey respondents said they didn’t have to lay off staff.

According to the report, three in every five recreational marine companies said they would postpone investment for the foreseeable future, although the same number said theory would focus any investment they did make on attempting to digitise their operations.

The pandemic affected Europe’s recreational boating industry very differently to Australia as it hit while earnings from boating were at their annual low.

European tourism was buoyed in the depts of the pandemic via EU grants of up to €80 million ($A126 million) to cover some of the losses due to the pandemic.

The region will also benefit from an €8.0 billion loan guarantee scheme aimed at helping 100,000 small to medium-sized businesses, many of them in the tourism sector, as well as €100 billion in loans to EU member states to help soften the pandemic’s socio-economic effect.

The 2021 EU Blue Economy report also looked at where recreational boating was hurting the most in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not surprisingly, Europe’s coastal regions were suffering the most.

The report noted that “sun and beach” sectors were hit the hardest, with a slight recovery in March last year as initial lockdowns eased and airports reopened. The sector recovered slightly to be down 40 per cent later in the year compared with a 60 per cent decline early in the pandemic.

Not surprisingly, the biggest uptick in searches related to recreational boating was for “adventure” activities as people looked to fill the void left by extended coronavirus lockdowns. 

Europe is expected to open up late this month to cruising yachts with crew carrying the EU Digital Vaccine Certificate showing they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.