Cap Sante Marina
Economic Impact of Transient & Guest Moorage

Prepared by:
Anacortes Chamber of Commerce

December 2000

Summary
The annual economic impact of the transient and guest moorage at Cap Sante Marina in
direct expenditures is estimated to be: $6,582,810.00

Objective/Methodology
The Chamber was asked to provide the annual economic impact of the transient moorage
at Cap Sante Marina, as part of our service contract with the Port. Experts within the
industry and people who study it were consulted and previous studies were examined in
order to provide background. Please see Resource List/Bibliography.

Relevant Data
“The 1988 Puget Sound Recreational Boaters Survey” provided the best data on boaters
spending. In fact it is the only study of its type which could be found. The Washington State Tourism Department also studies the spending habits of visitors but transient moorage is
included within “camping.” Their estimate for per group spending for overnight visitors is
$109.00 for those staying in a private campground and $87.00 for those staying in a public campground. For the purpose of this report the Boaters Survey was deemed to be much more specific and thus considerably more accurate.

Anacortes falls in Region IV in the Boaters Survey. Region IV includes five counties:
Skagit, Whatcom, San Juan, Snohomish, and Island. Region IV had the highest average
expenditure per boat per day ($95.93). Skagit County had the highest per boat
expenditure ($110.17) within Region IV and the entire study area. The next highest
counties were San Juan ($94.55), Whatcom ($87.20), and Pierce ($85.18). Mason
County had the lowest average expenditure ($22.00).

Washington State Tourism Division, Washington Travel Impacts, prepared by Dean Runyan &
Assoc.1999, page 16.
The 1988 Puget Sound Recreational Boaters Survey, prepared by The Gilmore Research Group, for the
Washington Public Ports Association, 1988, page 58.

The per boat expenditure for Skagit County broke down into the following categories:

Standard Industrial Category Sales
Grocery Stores/ 5411 $22.44
Gasoline Service Stations/ 5541 $38.50
Eating & Drinking Places/ 5810 $22.94
Miscellaneous Retail/ 59 $15.95
Hotels & Motels/ 7011 $.00
Electric Gas and Sanitary Services/ 49 $.28
Passenger Transportation Arrangements/ 4722 $.00
Amusement & Recreation Services/ 79 $.11
Marinas/ 4111 $9.95
Total: $110.17

The present value of average expenditure per boating visit is $168.79. In order to
translate the average expenditure per boating visit into 2000 dollars, the 1988 figure was
multiplied by the change in the Seattle Consumer Price Index for each year through 1999.
The 1988 Puget Sound Recreational Boaters Survey combined the spending of both
overnight moorage customers as well as boaters who were taking a day trip. “The
Washington State Tourist Bureau defines a tourist as a person who travels fifty miles or
more and remains twenty-four hours or overnight. Visitors are defined as persons who
travel less than fifty miles and/or remain less than twenty-four hours. All of the recreational
boaters who accepted and returned a Boater’s Expense Log fell into one of these two
categories.”3 Therefore, in order to use the survey accurately it is necessary to use both
overnight and day customers of Cap Sante Marina to estimate direct economic impact.

The Cap Sante Marina had approximately 13,000 overnight moorage customers in 2000.
It is conservatively estimated that there are also twice the number of temporary visitors to
the Cap Sante Marina who do not spend the night, but stop for fuel, groceries and other
services. The economic impact of the transient and guest moorage per boat visit can then
be computed as follows:

Overnight Moorage Customers (13,000 @ $168.79) $2,194,270.00
Guest Moorage Customers (26,000 @ $168.79) $4,388,540.00

Total Direct Economic Impact of Non-resident Customers: $6,582,810.00