Maritime NZ’s annual survey of recreational boaties, conducted by research firm Ipsos, shows that approximately 1.7 million Kiwis are involved in recreational boating and using an increasingly diverse array of watercraft. That’s around one in every two kiwis (45% of all New Zealanders).
While we all know that the biggest percentage of boating in New Zealand is carried out in the Auckland region, it wasn’t until I read the report from Maritime New Zealand that I realised just by how much. Auckland – you know the place, Lockdown City – accounts for more than 35% of all recreational boating in the country.
As I would have expected, following the Auckland region is the Waikato/Taupo area with about 19%, a slightly higher figure than Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty and then Northland in fourth place on about 16%. Wellington is less than 10%, with Wanganui, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, and Gisborne less than 5%.
Topping the South Island is the Canterbury district with around 12%, followed by Otago on 7%, Marlborough and Nelson on 5% and Southland about 3%.
Of all the activities, kayaks made up more than 32% of the users, followed by powerboats under 6m at 19% and PWCs at 9%. The report failed to show powerboats over 6m, which we all know is a vast part of the powerboat market. I would estimate that when you start adding all the 6m plus trailer boats, cruisers and motor yachts, the figure will increase to closer to 23%-25%.
If you add the PWCs into the powerboating mix, it’s probably going to be more than 30%, which sounds more like it. In future surveys, Maritime NZ needs to include all boats to get a more accurate figure.
