Published on: 22 September 2022
Marine industry turnover increases 25% in 2021-22
British Marine has published its latest topline economic statistics for the leisure, superyacht and small commercial marine industry for the 2021-22 financial year, providing an early snapshot of the financial performance of the industry over the last year.
The latest results indicate that the industry experienced a sharp rebound in sales following the initial, negative impact of COVID-19. Overall, industry turnover grew 25.3% to £4.23bn in 2021-22 – the industry’s highest total on record – as marine businesses enjoyed a rapid recovery from the disruption of pandemic-related restrictions the previous year. Industry turnover now sits at 6.5% above its pre-pandemic level.
This recovery has been driven by strong demand for new and used boats, marine equipment and accessories as Britons took to the waters as an antidote to the restrictions of the pandemic, coupled with a hunger for “staycation” boating tourism experiences throughout the summer of 2021, with “healthscare” anxiety and international travel restrictions helping to boost domestic tourism. These sectors experienced estimated growth of 40.3% and 49.6%, respectively.
Rising inflation and Britain’s escalating “cost of living” crisis has, of course, slowed the pace of this growth from late 2021. British Marine’s latest industry economic forecasts anticipate that year-on-year turnover growth will slow to less than 2% in 2022-23 as a result, with the momentum of the industry’s strong recovery in 2021 helping to maintain the industry’s growth into 2022. British Marine’s latest sentiment survey echoes this. Despite the challenging economic environment, business outlook among British Marine’s members remains bullish, with the majority of businesses enjoying continued sales growth (51%) and the majority (56%) also positive about their market, when surveyed in July 2022.
These statistics form part of British Marine’s forthcoming annual economic report, Key Performance Indicators for the Leisure, Superyacht & Small Commercial Marine Industry (2021-22), which will be published in January 2022.
For more information on British Marine’s market research and statistics service, please visit https://www.britishmarine.co.uk/Services/Growth/Statistics-and-Market-Research. For any queries or comments, please contact Alastair Wilson at awilson@britishmarine.co.uk.
