The t-word is back for another year of heavy rotation in the outdoor recreation industry.
The country’s surging outdoor recreation economy is sustaining a mighty bounce after the pandemic, reaching $1.2 trillion in economic output in 2023, up from $1.1 trillion in 2022, according to the latest numbers by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, or BEA. Since 2012, the outdoor recreation economy has grown by 36%.
“Consistency is part of our strength,” said Jessica Turner, the president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable that represents 110,000 outdoor businesses.
The seventh annual report from the federal government shows the outdoor recreation economy is bigger than agriculture, extractive industries and utilities, accounting for 2.3% of the nation’s total economic activity.
Recreation accounts for 5 million jobs, or 3.1% of all U.S. workers. The 3.6% annual increase in the outdoor recreation economy in 2023 surpassed the 2.9% overall growth in the U.S. economy.
The annual numbers released by the federal government support the industry’s push for legislation like the Explore Act, the largest outdoor recreation bill that will streamline federal permitting policies, support rural recreation economies, protect rock climbing in wilderness and link long-distance bike trails.
The U.S. House unanimously passed the Explore Act in April and outdoor industry champions are pushing the Senate to take up the act’s companion legislation — America’s Outdoor Recreation Act — before the end of the year.
“BEA’s numbers today will help us make better decisions and support many other other pieces of legislation,” said Glenn Hughes, president of the 900-member American Sportfishing Association trade group in a meeting with BEA economists Wednesday.
Turner, one of the recreation industry’s top lobbyists, feels confident the Explore Act will get through the Senate. She’s also hoping the SHRED Act — or Ski Hills Resources for Economic Development Act, which would allow forests to retain 60% to 75% of the ski area rent fees collected in their boundaries — will land as part of a legislative package approved by the lame-duck Congress this year. (The SHRED Act will be particularly impactful in Colorado’s White River National Forest, where 11 ski areas leasing federal land send close to $20 million a year to the U.S. Treasury while the national forest endures budget cuts.)
Outdoor recreation jobs in Colorado increased 4.4% to 132,594 jobs in 2023, with those workers earning $8.6 billion, averaging nearly $65,000 a year per outdoor recreation job. Of those 132,594 jobs, the BEA counted 37,000 in retail shops, 31,000 in arts, entertainment and recreation businesses, 30,000 in lodging and food service and 4,200 in manufacturing.
The BEA study shows outdoor recreation contributing $17.2 billion to the Colorado economy, accounting for 3.2% of the state’s economic activity.
- In 2022, outdoor recreation in Colorado generated $13.9 billion in spending, which supported nearly 130,000 workers who earned $6.9 billion.
- In 2021, outdoor recreation in Colorado generated $11.6 billion in spending, which supported 125,244 workers who earned $6.1 billion.
- In 2020, outdoor recreation in Colorado generated $9.6 billion in spending, which supported 120,000 workers who earned $5.7 billion.
- In 2019, outdoor recreation in Colorado generated $12.2 billion in spending, which supported 149,140 workers who earned $6.47 billion.
- In 2018 outdoor recreation in Colorado generated $11.3 billion in spending, which supported 146,178 workers who earned $6 billion.
Colorado leads the country’s ski economy, with winter sports contributing $1.6 billion, which is more than two times more than the next busiest ski state, California. Colorado finished in the top 10 states for economic activity around outdoor recreation.
The fastest growing recreational activities in the U.S. in 2023 were biking, which increased by nearly 27%, and snowsports, which grew by 25%, followed by hunting, hiking, climbing and camping. The largest contributors to the national recreation economy in 2023 were boating and fishing — which delivered a $36.8 billion impact — followed by RVing, hunting, motorcycling and snowsports.
Conor Hall is the head of Colorado’s outdoor recreation office, the second state office created to support outdoor recreation in 2016. There are now 24 state outdoor recreation offices in the country. (The Colorado outdoor recreation office is also among the lowest funded in the country, with 4.5 employees as part of the 122-employee Office of Economic Development and International Trade.)
Hall said the latest numbers show outdoor recreation as “one of the largest economic drivers in the country and something we should rely on to carry the U.S. economy, especially in uncertain times.”
“As we look at a political shift at the national level, outdoor recreation should not be partisan. This is something that a vast amount of Americans do across all political spectrums,” said Hall, who this year visited 20 rural counties on a listening tour that connected with 1,000 people and 50 outdoor businesses. “We all rely on the outdoors not just for the economic benefit that is so clear, but also our physical, mental and emotional health, our communities’ well-being and our quality of life.”