WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The outdoor industry grew faster than the overall economy in 2016 and accounts for 2.2 percent of the GDP, according to updated stats from the Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account released by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The study found the outdoor recreation economy totaled $412 billion in 2016. In data produced for the first time, using inflation-adjusted GDP, the outdoor recreation economy grew 1.7 percent in 2016, 0.1 percent faster than the growth for the overall U.S. economy. In addition, real gross output, compensation, and employment all grew faster in outdoor recreation than in the overall economy in 2016.
The new stats are updated to include refinements in methodology and presentation incorporated by BEA after receiving public feedback to the prototype statistics released in February.
Boating/Fishing was the largest core outdoor recreation activity in 2016, accounting for $36.9 billion of real gross output. That year's bicycle-related output was measured at $3.42 billion in 2012 dollars, up 3.6 percent from 2015.
More information: bea.gov/news/2018/outdoor-recreation-satellite-account-updated-statistics-2012-2016
