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BEA explains Outdoor Recreation Account, highlights jobs, regional differences and supporting spending
Summary
An agency official at the Bureau of Economic Analysis described the Outdoor Recreation Account as a thematic measure that isolates recreation-related economic activity across industries, highlights supporting spending such as lodging and food, and provides annual national and state-level employment and compensation estimates.
An agency official at the Bureau of Economic Analysis said the agency’s Outdoor Recreation Account is a thematic count designed to isolate and highlight outdoor recreation-related activity within the U.S. economy.
"The Outdoor Recreation Account is a thematic count at the Bureau of Economic Analysis that tries to highlight outdoor recreation in the U.S. economy," the agency official said, explaining that BEA "teases out" the portions of multiple industries tied to outdoor activity so they can be separately reported.
The account captures a wide range of activities, the official said, naming traditional pursuits such as camping, hiking, boating and fishing as well as broader activities including stargazing, gardening and walking for pleasure. The account also counts related industries—manufacturing of gear and clothing, services by guides and outfitters, and instructors such as ski teachers—and public services that provide recreation spaces, from national parks to local facilities.
The official emphasized that supporting spending by visitors—lodging, food service and souvenir shopping tied to outdoor trips—represents a substantial portion of the outdoor recreation economy and is included in BEA’s measures. "All of them need to have someplace to sleep, someplace to eat and they tend to do souvenir shopping when they're there, and that's a large piece of the outdoor recreation economy," the official said.
BEA publishes these outdoor recreation statistics annually, typically in the fall. The agency compiles the estimates both by traditional industry categories and by types of outdoor activities; the latter is the thematic-account approach that allows users to see the cross-industry contribution of outdoor recreation.
Employment and compensation figures are among the most-watched outputs, the official said, and BEA provides regional breakdowns so users can compare how outdoor recreation contributes to state economies. The official cited the example of Wyoming as a state where outdoor recreation’s contribution to jobs can be measured and compared with other states. The account also reveals variation by geography—for example, winter-sports-focused mountain states versus coastal states oriented to boating and beach activities.
The official said the statistics are used by a range of audiences, including citizens, government officials, advocates, outdoor-industry professionals and state tourism offices, which leverage the data to identify what drives their state’s outdoor recreation economy. For more information on the account and BEA’s methodology, the agency official directed listeners to BEA’s website.
The release schedule and the two-tabulation approach (by industry and by activity) mean users can examine both how much traditional industries contribute to outdoor recreation and which specific activities drive spending and jobs in a given state.
