Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/306360
www.BoatingIndustry.com www.BoatingIndustry.com 38 | Boating Industry | May 2014 MARKET FOCUS SECTION { MARINAS } BY JONATHAN SWEET I t's often said that getting people on the water is the key to growing boating. That's the idea behind National Ma- rina Day, scheduled for June 14 and now in its 13th year. "If you get a person behind the wheel, they're much more likely to become a boater than if they just stand there and look at a boat," said Wendy Larimer, legislative coor- dinator for the Association of Marina Indus- tries, which organizes the annual event. "To have a marina open the doors, have people come in, check out boating and see that it's a lot of fun makes a big difference." For the second year in a row, AMI is working with Discover Boating's "Wel- come to the Water" campaign to increase awareness of the event. Combining the two makes a lot of sense because they have the same goals, Larimer said. With its more than 650,000 Facebook fans, Discover Boating also offers a wide audience to promote the event to. While AMI promotes the events on a national stage, each marina that wants to participate can decide on how big or small to make their local event. Local marinas can register their event on the National- MarinaDay.org website, so it will be in- cluded in the list of national events. Events range from barbecues to test rides to safety demonstrations and more. The website also includes several re- sources such as event ideas, logos, tem- plates, sample press releases and radio spots. Marinas can also see what other ma- rinas are planning to do as a way to gener- ate event ideas, Larimer said. AMI has also been working with local marine trade associations urging them to get involved and help their members with events, a strategy that has been embraced Hooking new boaters National Marina Day offers opportunity to draw more people to the water by the Northwest Marine Trade Associa- tion, based in Seattle. "As an association our mission is to grow boating, to increase participation in boating," said NMTA president George Harris. Growing boating will take a fundamen- tal focus on skills training and National Marina Day offers a perfect opportunity for that, Harris said. "We know why people drop out of boating: it's either cost or they have a bad experience and I think the bad experience can be fi xed with skills training," he said. While the association has done a good job with traditional events like boat shows and promoting the industry's legislative agenda, National Marina Day had not National Marina Day is all about exposing people to boating. P38x39-BI14MAY-MarketFocus.indd 38 4/17/14 1:05 PM