Regional Flows of Recreational Boater Expenditures on Trips in Michigan

Abstract

This study estimated the regional flows of boater spending on trips by four boat storage categories to provide information useful to regional marketing and planning efforts for boating agencies and industries. Data were collected through sample surveys of 1998 Michigan registered boat owners. The questionnaire was designed for boaters to specify their spending between origin and destination to avoid potentially erroneous assumptions on the allocation of spending among regions. Owners of 652,000 registered boats logged 18.4 million days of boating and spent $635 million on trips within Michigan in 1998. All northern regions were net gainers from boater trip spending and earned a net gain of $120 million in 1998. The south inland region showed the biggest net loss of boater dollars, as resident boaters in this region spent $78 million more outside the region than the region received. Out-of-state boaters spent $35 million in Michigan, mostly involving use of seasonal homes in the state.