The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) released its annual Total Industry Sales by Category and State Report, part of NMMA’s 2024 U.S. Recreational Boating Statistical Abstract. The 2024 data reveals recreational marine spending remained healthy last year, with total retail expenditures hitting $55.6 billion, down slightly (2.6 percent) from 2023.

In addition to healthy spending, the report confirms that boating consumers continued using and outfitting their boats last year. Total expenditures include spending on new and pre-owned boats, outboard engines, trailers, aftermarket accessories, as well as boat use spending, including fuel, financing, insurance, docking and maintenance. Both the boat use and aftermarket accessory categories were flat with 2023 at $12.1 billion and $12.4 billion, respectively.

New boat sales accounted for 238,117 units in 2024, led by new outboard boats with 141,590 units. Pre-owned sales totaled 858,798 boats in 2024. This segment made up 78.3 percent of all transactions, compared with 21.7 percent for new boat sales.

“The annual data for 2024 confirm what many in the industry speculated—that people continued using their boats and interest in being on the water remained strong last year despite slowing unit sales amid economic turbulence and shifting consumer demand,” notes Ellen Bradley, NMMA senior vice president of marketing and communications. “The attraction of being on the water is our industry’s greatest competitive advantage and we can expect that some of the boat use activity last year is a result of consumers getting on the water through a variety of expanding entry points.”