Category Archives: News Release

USDA Expanding Recreation Economies

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STAKEHOLDER ANNOUNCEMENT USDA to Create Plan to Expand Recreation Economies and Help People Thrive Across Rural America Rural Development, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and U.S. Forest Service Partner to Create New Tools and Resources WASHINGTON, Jan. 19, 2023

– The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that it will create a plan to expand recreation economies to help people thrive across rural America. 

Through a Memorandum of Understanding, USDA Rural Development, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the U.S. Forest Service will partner to develop an annual plan to expand economic opportunities related to recreation in communities surrounding America’s national forests.

The annual plan will outline the ways the agencies will partner to conduct program outreach, host informational sessions and workshops, and develop toolkits to help people access the resources they need to thrive in recreation economies. To learn more, read the full Stakeholder Announcement. 

Innovative and Promising Practices in Sustainable Tourism Vol 2

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The intent of this volume is to provide an opportunity for academics, extension professionals, industry stakeholders and community practitioners to reflect, discuss and share the innovative approaches that they have taken to develop sustainable tourism in a variety of different contexts. Faculty and students will benefit from having access to current examples where researchers and practitioners are approaching common issues, opportunities and trends. Practitioners, volunteers, board members and leaders of community organizations will benefit from having a platform to share their own innovative practices or to gain insights from those in other contexts. Each case incorporates some learning outcomes and discussion questions to guide readers and learners in case exploration. This volume includes four cases from North and Central America and Europe.

Description

Preface — The GNAR Initiative: Empowering gateway communities through collaboration / Jake Powell, Danya Rumore, & Jordan Smith — Social innovation as a tool to create a more sustainable tourism: The example of the platform Socialbnb / Alexander Haufschild & Dirk Reiser — Embracing change: The Cayuga Collection’s way of building resilience in the tourism industry / Carolin Seiferth — Finding their way through the weeds: How festivals navigated legalized cannabis / Kiri Shafto & Christine Van Winkle.

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Outdoor Recreation Economic Data

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The US Bureau of Economic Analysis has release new data on the economic impact of Outdoor Recreation for 2021.

“The outdoor recreation economy accounted for 1.9 percent ($454.0 billion) of current-dollar gross domestic product (GDP) for the nation in 2021. At the state level, outdoor recreation value added as a share of GDP ranged from 4.8 percent in Hawaii to 1.3 percent in New York and Connecticut. The share was 0.9 percent in the District of Columbia.”

Additional highlights for value added by activity for 2021 are as follows:

  • Boating/fishing was the largest conventional activity for the nation at $27.3 billion in current-dollar value added and was the largest conventional activity in 27 states and the District of Columbia. The largest contributors were Florida ($4.0 billion), California ($2.3 billion), and Texas ($2.0 billion) (state table 2).
  • RVing was the second-largest conventional activity for the nation at $25.1 billion in current-dollar value added and was the largest conventional activity in 15 states. The largest contributors were Indiana ($5.4 billion), Texas ($2.2 billion), and California ($2.0 billion).
  • Hunting/shooting/trapping was the third-largest conventional activity for the nation at $10.8 billion in current-dollar value added and was the largest conventional activity in two states. The largest contributors were Texas ($1.2 billion), California ($763.8 million), and Georgia ($555.2 million).
  • Snow activities for the nation was $5.2 billion in current-dollar value added and was the largest conventional activity in four states. The largest contributors were Colorado ($1.3 billion), Utah ($519.4 million), and California ($505.7 million).

More information can be found at the BEA site at https://www.bea.gov/news/2022/outdoor-recreation-satellite-account-us-and-states-2021