Marina Business - An introduction for Investors, Developers and Buyers - Volume 1

What business are we in? 

The following is a quote from an article in the Harvard Business Review "Marketing Myopia" by Theodore Levitt: 

"The railroads did not stop growing because the need for passenger and freight transportation declined. That grew. The railroads are in trouble today, not because that need was filled by others (cars, trucks, airplanes, and even telephones) but because it was not filled by the railroads themselves. They let others take customers away from them because they assumed themselves to be in the railroad business rather than in the transportation business. The reason they defined their industry incorrectly was that they were railroad oriented instead of transportation oriented; they were product-oriented instead of customer-oriented". 

Marinas are a part of the Hospitality Industry, not the Transportation Industry (SIC 4493 Division of Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas, And Sanitary Services) 

The primary operating activities of a marina are similar to that of a hotel. Hotels and marinas revolve around managing rentals, managing personnel, maintaining the property, and supplying services. They are primarily engaged in providing accommodations for the general public. Both have the most perishable product in the world; once a berth or hotel room goes empty for the night, it is lost revenue that can never be recovered.