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Good News for Boating Industry: Mandurah Boat Show Attendance Eclipses Last Year by 12.5%

Announcement posted by Revolution Marine Finance 21 Dec 2012

Australia-wide boat loan specialists, Revolution Marine Finance, project rebound for boating industry in 2013.
From 12th October through 14th October, the 12th annual Club Marine Mandurah Boat Show was held at the Mandurah Ocean Marina. The show was a huge success, with an attendance of 18,000, beating last year’s attendance by 2,000. Boat dealers in the Boating Industry Association of WA (BIAWA) are very encouraged, not only by the attendance, but by a sharp increase in inquiries generated by the show.

The show offered a combination of a lot of boats, dealers, boating demonstrations, and boating personalities. The 2012 ambassador was Tom Williams, a current presenter of The Great Outdoors, on Channel 7. The theme of the 2012 show was enjoying the outdoor lifestyle on the water.

The array of boats ranged from kayaks and dinghies through fishing boats, ski boats, yachts, and luxury cruisers. There were also a lot of accessories on display, including boating, fishing, and camping gear, along with the industry’s newest electronic gadgets.

Other personalities: Chef Bart Beek, with a tapas recipe that can be executed on a boat, fishing writers Mike Roenfeldt and Scott Coghlan, and the ever-popular Hodgie the Barefoot Fisherman.

While the festivities were enjoyed by many this year, the most important news for the boating industry was the high amount of inquiries. This year, every dealer who spoke on the record had something positive to say about increasing consumer interest in boats.

Every dealer quoted remarked that there was the most interest since before the global financial crisis, and all were optimistic, at least to a degree, that 2013 is going to be a very strong year for the boating industry. While some stopped short of predicting a full recovery, all anticipate a lot more activity in the boating market next year.

For a bit of historical perspective, boat sales bottomed out during and slightly after the global financial crisis in 2008. According to the BIAWA, approximately 30% of boat dealers have gone out of business since 2008. According to Jim Rann, President of the BIAWA, new boat registrations for 2012 are showing a marked increase over the same time period in 2011.

Ben Crombie, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Revolution Marine Finance, believes that a recovery is possible, but that a rebound is definitely imminent: “The news coming out of the Mandurah Boat Show is some of the most positive news the boating industry has had in a long time. It’s been a rough go for a lot of boat dealers since the global financial crisis, and a lot of good people and good companies didn’t make it out the other side of the crisis. Those who had the luck, resources, or both to survive may be about to get rewarded in 2013.”

Crombie continued, “We have been more fortunate in Western Australia than in the rest of the country. Even when things got bad, we had the mining industry to mitigate the effects, and they have been driving the recovery that we are finally seeing in WA. Because most boats are recreational items bought with disposable income, we don’t know if we are ever going to see a full recovery, but we definitely see a rebound or market correction coming up in 2013.”

Crombie concluded, “Interest rates are dropping slowly, and prices are still a bit low, but people are starting to have disposable income again. This makes the outlook for a rebound in 2013 very favourable.”

Revolution Marine Finance provides boat finance solutions across Australia. Contact them today for more information.

Visit their website: http://www.revolutionmarinefinance.com.au/ or call them at 1300 448 675.