Sept12 (2).pdf - Association of Marina Industries

27Legislation &By Wendy LarimerpartnershipsAnother boating season is winding down for many in thecountry and it’s time to evaluate how this past year was forour industry. Did you see more customers and more profit,or did drought and storms take a toll? Did you cut back onsome of your spending to help increase the bottom line, ordid you decide this was the year to open the wallet and payfor some long overdue improvements?The Association of Marina Industries (AMI) and MarinaDockAge magazine are wondering what your answers areto these questions and a few others. So we have teamed upthis year for the annual Marina Trends Survey.AMI has conducted this survey over the past few years toget an overall view of where our industry is in comparisonto previous years. What do marinas look like today acrossthe country? MDA has also been conducting a survey toMarina Management ProfessionalsThird Party – Turn KeyMarina ManagementFull Service, All Accounting, Insurance PoolDesign & Development –Construction ManagementOur Client List Includes:Financial Institutions,Corporate Ownership,Family & Individual OwnershipMarinas International Management Division727-822-9173 Kirby@marinasintl.com11226 Indian TrailDallas, TX 752291110 3rd St. SouthSt. Petersburg, FL 33701gather similar information, so we finally decided it wasin our best interest to stop bombarding you with multiplesurveys and bring them all together.We hope that by combining our efforts to design the surveyfor the ease of the users, and by distributing to both of ourever-growing mailing lists and social media networks thatwe increase the number of respondents and consequentlythe value of the survey. A survey is only as valuable as thenumber of respondents who take it and the honesty andcompleteness of their answers.We need your help. Taking into consideration your busyschedules we have cut the survey down to just about twentyquestions, the majority of which will only take a clickof the mouse to answer. There are no essays, no need topull out facility human resources and financial documents,just simple questions to gauge where the marina industrystands today.The results from this survey will be presented by AnnaTownsend, editor of Marina DockAge, at the Marina RecreationAssociation conference in California and the Docks& Decks conference in Wisconsin this fall. Portions of thefinal report will also be released in the December issue ofMarina DockAge magazine. Following a two year trend,the survey results will again be presented as one of the sessionsat this year’s International Marina & Boatyard Conferencein January.All participants who fully complete the survey and leavetheir contact information will receive a free copy of thefinal report on the survey results. AMI will also have theofficial Marina Trends Report for sale at a nominal fee foranyone else who is interested.This is the third year we have conducted this survey and sowe will finally begin to examine trends over the years andstart to develop a true snapshot of marinas in the US.To take the survey go to www.marinaassociation.org andclick on the link on the homepage.