Reimagining Industry Growth

3Recreational Boating and the Great Outdoors

Recreational boating is an extremely popular American pastime. The call of the outdoors has always had a strong pull on our national psyche. There's something of the frontier spirit in us that lures us out to hunt and fish and explore and enjoy our vast and beautiful patchwork of rivers, creeks, lakes, waterways, and bays, from sea to shining sea.

The industry fuels a powerful economic engine. According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), there are more than 35,000 marine businesses (including some 3,000 manufacturers, 11,200 marinas, and 15,000 dealers) that support approximately 700,000 jobs (including 111,000 in manufacturing and 78,500 at marinas), which generates about $170 billion in annual output (including $20.5 billion in tax revenue) in the United States.¹

It is popular: In 2019 there were 11,878,542 registered recreational boating vessels in the United States,² and 141.6 million Americans go boating every year.³

It is inclusive: 62 percent of boat owners have an annual income of $100,000 or less, and 95 percent of boats in the United States are small, towable boats sized at 26 feet or less.⁴

And it is homegrown: 95 percent of boats sold in America are made in America.⁵

For more than 20 years, American recreational boating has been to a great extent influenced, guided, and strengthened by the NMMA, which has successfully positioned itself as the industry. “NMMA is the industry. We don't exist apart,” ...