{"id":50177,"date":"2020-11-29T05:03:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-29T12:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/outdoor-recreation-continues-to-be-a-mighty-economic-force-accounting-for-788-billion-in-2019\/"},"modified":"2020-11-29T12:03:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T12:03:06","slug":"outdoor-recreation-continues-to-be-a-mighty-economic-force-accounting-for-788-billion-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/outdoor-recreation-continues-to-be-a-mighty-economic-force-accounting-for-788-billion-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdoor recreation continues to be a mighty economic force, accounting for $788 billion in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The outdoor recreation economy is booming, with the Bureau of Economic Analysis reporting outdoor business and participants creating a $788 billion economic impact in 2019.<\/span>Jason Blevins\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Outdoor recreation is emerging as a critical element in the economic recovery from COVID-19 as the recreation economy delivers a larger share of U.S. economic output for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s latest tally of the outdoor recreation economy<\/a> showed a $787.6 billion economic impact from businesses supporting 5.2 million jobs. The report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis issued this week showed outdoor recreation\u2019s businesses and participants supported 2.1% of the nation\u2019s economic output, or gross domestic product.<\/p>\n

This is the third annual report<\/a> on the U.S. recreation economy. The 2017 report was the first to quantify the growing role of recreation in the national economy. Each year since, the recreation economy has grown, often at a faster rate than the national economy.<\/p>\n

The 2019 report from the BEA showed the recreation economy providing $459.8 billion in \u201cnominal value\u201d \u2013 spending minus the costs of goods and services \u2013 to the gross domestic product, which the bureau counted as $21.4 trillion in 2019. The bureau\u2019s 2019 study showed the recreation economy\u2019s \u201creal gross output<\/a>,\u201d which covers consumer and business spending as well as wages, reached $787.6 billion, up from $776.8 billion in 2018 and $759.6 billion in 2017.<\/p>\n

The outdoor recreation economy in the U.S. is \u201cbigger than mining and bigger than agriculture and on par with broadcasting and telecommunications,\u201d said bureau economist Dirk van Duym in a presentation Nov. 10 after the report was released.<\/p>\n

In Colorado, outdoor recreation accounted for more than $12.2 billion<\/a> in economic impact, or about 3.1% of the state\u2019s total economy. Outdoor recreation businesses in Colorado employed 149,140 workers who earned $6.4 billion.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, winter activities in Colorado delivered more than any other state with a $1.7 billion contribution to the state\u2019s economy. At a national level, winter sports was the sixth largest economic contributor in the outdoor recreation industry with a $6.3 billion impact.<\/p>\n

\"The
The national boating industry is reporting record sales in 2020. Boating was the largest outdoor recreation activity for the nation in 2019, contributing $23.6 billion to the nation&#x2019;s economy.<\/span>Jason Blevins\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Boating and fishing \u2013 the most popular outdoor activity in 30 states \u2013 led the outdoor recreation economy with a $23.6 billion contribution to the nation\u2019s gross domestic product.<\/p>\n

Touring in recreational vehicles was next, with an $18.6 billion contribution, followed by hunting and motorcycling.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Economic Analysis said the outdoor recreation economy was led by the arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services industries. Other industries driving the recreation economy include retail and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

In Colorado, accommodation and food services led the state\u2019s recreation economy \u2013 which is driven largely by private businesses \u2013 followed by arts, entertainment, recreation and retail shops. (The bureau analysis considers attendance at festivals and concerts as outdoor recreation.)<\/p>\n

\"Outdoor
Outdoor arts and entertainment &#x2013; including concerts and festivals like this one this fall in Buena Vista &#x2013; were part of the state&#x2019;s $12.2 billion outdoor recreation economy.<\/span>Jason Blevins\/The Colorado Sun<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

All the industries that drive the country\u2019s recreation economy are the ones that have suffered most during the pandemic, which settled hard on the West during the busy spring ski season and saw resorts, hotels and restaurants shuttered from mid-March into May.<\/p>\n

Outdoor recreation was ranked nationally among impacted industries in the pandemic, alongside food, lodging and hospitality. Recreation industry losses came not only from closures of outdoor areas, shops and manufacturing plants but also impacts to domestic and international supply chains.<\/p>\n

But as shutdowns lifted this spring, outdoor recreation boomed \u201clike never before,\u201d said Jessica Turner, the head of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, a coalition of 33 outdoor recreation organizations representing more than 110,000 businesses.<\/p>\n

Participation in outdoor activities has hovered around 48% to 50%<\/a> of the population in the last 15 years of tracking by the Outdoor Industry Association. Surveys of participation from this summer and fall suggest participation has climbed to all-time highs near 69%, the association\u2019s executive director Lise Aangeenbrug said, pointing to health and wellness contributions beyond dollars that are tied to people getting outside to play.<\/p>\n

Erik Pritchard, the head of the Motorcycle Industry Council, said sales of motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and side-by-side, off-highway vehicles during the pandemic are setting records with double-digit percentage growth in 2020 over 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n

Outdoor recreation is \u201cone of the few sectors holding up the economy during COVID,\u201d said Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, noting \u201ca remarkable shift in how consumers are spending\u201d during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Between March and June this year, the boating industry sold 44,000 boats, a 10% increase over the same period of 2019, Hugelmeyer said. In Colorado, sales of rafts, paddleboards and kayaks<\/a> boomed in the spring as rivers and lakes swelled with socially distanced paddlers.<\/p>\n

The campground industry is on trajectory to surpass 2019\u2019s record traffic<\/a>, even after the spring shutdown, said Paul Bambei, the head of the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, which represents about 3,000 privately owned RV parks.<\/p>\n

Bambei said the campground industry saw a 185% increase in cancellations through April. But the industry has rebounded, with tens of thousands of first-time campers, Bambei said, noting a 19% increase in campground reservations in September and a 20% increase in deposits on RV and camper purchases for 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a break-out year to get behind the wheel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, journalist-owned news outlet exploring issues of statewide interest. Sign up for a newsletter and read more at coloradosun.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado, about 3.2% of the economy is derived from recreation. Growth this year indicates the role of recreation as critical to national recovery during the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,976,810],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-50177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-tourism-recreation"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50177"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=50177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}