Firth of Clyde Forum Annual Conference 2007

Sailing in the Clyde Estuary

• Conference Home
• Conference Programmme
• Keynote Presentation
• Additional Presentations
  • The Growth Of Marine Leisure on The Firth of Clyde
  • Industry Initiatives
  • The Clyde’s Cool Seas: The Marine Conservation Society in Scotland
  • Paths Around the Water
  • Sailing in the Clyde Estuary
  • The Economy of the Coast
  • The Majestic Line
  • Marine Wildlife Watching on the Clyde: The Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code
• Speakers' Biographies
• Conference Exhibitors

Sail Clyde is an exciting new partnership of the Scottish sailing industry and the public sector to expand and develop the Clyde Sailing product. The strategy developed by this partnership aims in the next ten years to double the number of yachts using the Clyde.

This will be achieved by developing the following key themes:

• Ensuring industry engagement and leadership for Sail Clyde.
• Actively marketing the Clyde.
• Promoting and developing the Clyde as an international sailing events venue.
• Supporting business growth and innovation within the Clyde sailing industry.
• Developing the future skills needed to enable the industry to continue to expand.
• Grow infrastructure capacity, support the expansion of existing marinas, the development of new marinas, the creation of staging posts to the south of the Clyde and improve the access to the key destinations.

An Introduction to the Sail Clyde Project

In 2005 consultants were commissioned by Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire, on behalf of all the local enterprise companies that border the Firth of Clyde, to review the potential for future development of sailing on the Clyde. The purpose of the study was to review the size, volume and economic impact of sailing tourism activity in the Clyde Estuary and to set out an action plan for further development. The study therefore involved detailed research with berth holders and visiting leisure boats, hotel and accommodation providers, marinas and marine trade operators. The focus for the study was on yachts and motorboats. It excludes other watersports activities such as diving and dinghy sailing.

Key Findings:

UK

• There are between 450,000 – 500,000 boats in the UK, of which 250,000 may be classified as yachts.
• Domestic tourism spend relating to boating is estimated at just under £2 billion (excluding industry related expenditure).
• 7% (4 million) of the population participates in leisure boating activities.
• Overseas marine visitors, who represent around 10% of all visitors, are estimated to account for about £200 million of the total leisure boating related spend.
• Leisure boating accounts for 24 million day visits and 16 million overnight trips, supporting around 60,000 tourism jobs.

Scotland

Scotland is considered to be one of the top six sailing destinations in the world. It is an important part of Scotland’s tourism product; its benefits to Scotland are of a similar scale to that of golf.

• Around 15,000 yachts are berthed around Scotland in marinas and harbours.
• Low cost airlines have resulted in boat owners from over the UK berthing their boats in Scotland.
• Berthing rates in Scotland can be up to 40% cheaper than facilities on the south coast.
• Scotland has around 200 marine related businesses, which represents 3% of total marine leisure in the UK.
• The British Marine Federation estimates that the annual economic impact of the marine leisure industry in Scotland is £250 million, supporting around 7,000 jobs. Sailing is £131m of this.

Clyde Estuary

Of the £131 million generated by sailing in Scotland, it is estimated some £44 million is directly generated by yachts and motor cruisers visiting or berthed on the Clyde.

• There are over 2,700 permanent marina berth holders and 2,060 moorings in the Clyde Estuary.
• There has been a steady increase in English boats based in Scottish marinas, rising from 20% to 30% in the last 10 years.
• If 0.2% of berth holders in England and Wales relocated to the Clyde this would double numbers on the Clyde.
• The primary use of berth holder boats was for weekend cruising (75%).
• Permanent berth holder’s average annual spend per boat is around £7,000.Annual spend on moorings is around £3,500.
• Visitor boat nights are estimated at over 32,000, generating around £4.1 million expenditure.
• Location was the main reason for berth holders selecting a marina followed by the quality of the sailing area. Cost is not a significant factor in where owners berthed their boats.
• Of those surveyed, 31% of visiting boats came from England. 82% were cruising in their own boat. 78% were in yachts.
• Sailing visitors are in general high spenders. Overall the average daily spend is £125.
• Tarbert and Rothesay were the most visited ports.
• Scenery and safe waters were the main reason for visiting boats selecting a marina.
• Satisfaction levels were generally high.
• There is a need for more step-ashore facilities away from the marinas, particularly on Arran.

Recommendations

The main recommendations from the research include:

• The development of an action plan to identify locations and centres where facilities could either be improved or new infrastructure developments considered. The main themes of the action plan include:
• Industry engagement and leadership
• Infrastructure/marina capacity
• Business growth & innovation
• Future skills
• International marketing
• Events strategy
• The Clyde Estuary is well positioned to attract major sailing events and to encourage visiting boats to the area. Discussions have been held with VisitScotland and EventScotland to explore how sailing activity can be incorporated in their national priorities.
• Investigation is in progress into the potential to access European funding to assist the industry at all levels. EU funding has significantly helped other areas such as Ireland, Wales and Cornwall. Over 1,000 new pontoon berths are either in planning or development at present but marinas are indicating that this may not be enough. Provision of berths may need to double in the next ten years to meet demand.

Next Steps

A Clyde Sailing Steering Group has now been set up to oversee the development of the project. This group will be responsible for developing a Clyde Sailing Strategy and will work closely with the industry to develop the product. The group consists of representatives from Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, Event Scotland, Industry representatives and Highlands & Islands Enterprise. A number of sub-groups will also be developed to progress the project, including an Industry Group and a Funding Group.

For further information please contact Robin Cole of Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire on 01563 545069 or robin.cole@scotent.co.uk or read the full report