MIAMI 2022: ‘Very Strong and Sustained Interest in Boating’

“Despite inflation, gas prices and supply-chain disruptions, consumers are showing a very strong and sustained interest in boating,” said NMMA president Frank Hugelmeyer this morning during the Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show. “The key economic indicators for boating remain sound, and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about our industry.”

Hugelmeyer made the remarks in his State of the Industry keynote during the Industry Breakfast.

“It’s been seven years since the Miami International Boat Show was held in this building, and it’s great to be back,” said Larry W. Berryman Jr., vice president of Miami Boating for Informa Markets. “Joining with NMMA in this reimagined building and at our other venues to create the world’s largest boat show is an amazing accomplishment.”

Hugelmeyer said that optimizing the Discover Boating social media approach and partnering with the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation has helped drive more people to both sports.

“Social media engagement is up 75 percent to 7.5 million, and paid social gained us 20.5 million impressions,” he said. “We had 6 million YouTube views last year, and Instagram traffic was up 22 percent compared with prepandemic levels. It’s clear that these are powerful ways to reach new boaters and bring them into the fold.”

Added RBFF president and CEO Dave Chanda: “The remarkable interest in boating and fishing is immediately apparent when you look at the metrics for our [takemefishing.org] website,” he said. “We had more than 55 million visits in the first nine months of last year and 3.5 billion impressions, which is more than the entire previous year.”

Bipartisan advocacy remains a key part of NMMA’s initiatives on Capitol Hill. “We’ve had great success working with our partners in Congress,” Hugelmeyer said. “Getting the Great American Outdoors Act passed represented a great effort by our advocacy team. We’ve built a strong relationship with the new administration and have prevented boating access restrictions in more than 10 states.”

Hugelmeyer introduced U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who appeared in a short video to comment on the retaliatory tariffs placed on U.S. boat imports by the European Union. “It was a remarkable effort for us to get the tariffs removed that so severely impacted the U.S. boating industry,” Raimonda said. “Those tariffs expired this year on January first.”

Hugelmeyer, however, advised caution. “We’re winning, but haven’t won,” he said. “You can see here the steady decline in new-boat sales over the last 40 years. Hubris is not what we need right now.”

It was evident in Hugelmeyer’s keynote that the Discover Boating campaign remains at the forefront of the organization’s effort to bring new boaters into the fold. “We launched the Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show and plan on rebranding all NMMA-owned boat shows under Discover Boating by 2023,” he said. “We will continue to refresh the Discover Boating campaign across Web, digital and boat show platforms.”

U.S. Representative Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), ranking member of the House of Committee on Natural Resources, took the stage to discuss the importance of conservation and preserving the environment for boaters, anglers and hunters. “When I was growing up, my granny taught us to not waste a thing,” he said. “If she harvested it, we ate it, fed it to the animals or sent it to seed. Nothing went to waste. That’s how we need to approach conservation.”

Scott Berry, director, engineering standards for NMMA, and Rollick CEO Bernie Brenner presented the Marine Industry Customer Satisfaction Index awards, which recognized industry stakeholders across several categories.

The Alan J. Freedman award, which recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the marine industry, was presented by Syntec Industries president Bill Watters to NorCross Marine Products president Greg Lentine.

“In addition to his relentless pursuit of quality marine innovation and building his company, Greg has been a longstanding advocate for our industry, particularly small businesses, making sure they always have a seat at the table with the big guys,” Watters said. “It’s my honor to present Greg with the 2022 Alan J. Freedman Award for all he has done for recreational boating.”

The NMMA Innovations Awards were the last presentation at the breakfast. Coverage of the awards will appear in tomorrow’s Trade Only Today newsletter.