Sea Kayak Industry Generates Estimated $8.5 Million Economic Impact to State
Contact: At UMaine: Todd Gabe, Dept. of Resource Economics and Policy, 207-581-3307, todd.gabe@umit.maine.edu, Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777, houtman@maine.edu
At MASKGI: Paul Travis, president, 478-8193, ptravis@adelphia.net
ORONO– Maine’s sea kayak industry generates an estimated total impact of at least $8.5 million to the state’s economy, according to a report from the Dept. of Resource Economics and Policy at the University of Maine. In cooperation with the Maine Association of Sea Kayak Guides and Instructors (MASKGI), Assistant Professor Todd Gabe and Tom Allen, associate scientist, analyzed surveys from nine of the state’s 22 sea kayak outfitters who are MASKGI members.
The economic impact figure is a first step in estimating the impact of all sea kayaking activities in Maine. In the future, MASKGI plans to continue efforts to understand the industry’s impact by including non-guided trips, those led by other outfitters and related equipment purchases.
The surveys were conducted online with the help of Maine Sea Grant in 2003.
“We are trying to quantify the economic impact that the industry has on the coast of Maine,” says MASKGI founder and vice-president Dave Mention who worked with Gabe to develop the survey. “You can consider it to be just a kiosk on a dock or to be an integral part of Maine’s coastal tourism economy. Our best guess right now is that the industry is comparable to the schooner trade, but we don’t have the total numbers. This survey is just a first step.”
Natalie Springuel, a Maine sea kayak guide and marine extension associate with Maine Sea Grant, agrees that the industry’s actual economic impact is higher than the survey results suggest. “With all the guided tours and rentals from independent businesses, inns, campgrounds, outfitters who are not MASKGI members, new businesses popping up regularly, not to mention out of state businesses running trips in Maine, and the countless boy scout troops, camps and church groups who run trips, I think the sport brings a lot more than $8.5 million,” she says.
The estimate includes the industry’s direct revenue, additional spending by customers and the new economic activity stimulated by that spending. Gabe and Allen calculated the latter figures with a standard computer model that estimates the ripple effects of direct sales within an economic sector.
The survey also concludes that total employment in the industry amounted to about 416 people with a payroll of $1.3 million.
The survey revealed that about one quarter of sea kayak outfitter customers are from Maine. Most of the remainder come from other states, and about five percent come from other countries. A typical outfitter has been in business for ten years, had revenues of about $205,000 and served 2,473 customers in 2003.