Economic Impact and Benefits of Recreational Boating Along the AIWW
The following information was taken from the North Carolina Beach, Inlet & Waterway Association newsletter (Spring 2007, Vol 2, # 3).
The first phase of the NCBIWA/SeaGrant/DENR two-year study that pertains to the economic impact and benefits of recreational boating on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway has been completed and the results have been released. In a nutshell, the study shows that the benefits created by recreational boats using the AIWW are significant, that they are both national and local in scope and that even within the local benefits are spread over the whole state and not just the coastal counties.
- Approximately 75% of benefits are federal, and 25% state & local. Federal return on investment: $26 per $1 spent; state & local: $29 per $1 spent.
- In February 2003, 355,453 boats were registered in North Carolina. Of these registered boats, 144,135 were less than 16 feet. Of the 211,318 boats with length greater than or equal to 16 feet almost all, 203,953, have zip codes with the range of the boaters in the AIWW survey sample.
- The estimated state-wide annual economic impact of reduced AIWW navigability due to reductions in the numbers of boater trips are losses of $103 million in economic output, 1,623 jobs and $50 million in wages and salaries, $14 million in Federal tax revenues, and $8.6 million in state and local tax revenues.
- Under reduced AIWW navigability conditions, the number of AIWW recreational boating trips taken per year by NC resident boaters is estimated to fall by 45 percent, and the number of trips made by non-NC resident boaters is estimated to fall by 30 percent.
Click here to read the full report on the study and results are online at .To view the presentation on the study, in layman's terms, click here.
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