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Wisconsin Outdoor Recreation Industry Contributes Record-Breaking Amount to State's GDP

Wednesday, December 6th, 2023 -- 9:00 AM

Gov. Tony Evers, together with Wisconsin Department of Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers and Wisconsin Office of Outdoor Recreation Director Mary Monroe Brown, announced that the latest release of data from the Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows that Wisconsin’s outdoor recreation industry contributed a record-breaking $9.8 billion to the state’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, growing 6.8 percent over the previous record set in 2021.

The report showed it was the highest contribution by the outdoor recreation sector since 2018, when the BEA started measuring the industry’s economic impact and releasing the figures annually.

All topline metrics for the outdoor recreation industry in Wisconsin were record-breaking:

  • $9.8 billion contributed to Wisconsin’s GDP (up 6.8 percent);
  • 2.5 percent share of Wisconsin’s GDP (up 0.1 percent);
  • 94,042 jobs supported (up 4.8 percent);
  • 3.1 percent of state employment (up 0.1 percent);
  • $4.7 billion in employee compensation (up 5.3 percent).

Wisconsin’s Motorcycling/ATVing sector contributed over $1 billion and ranks first among all states. Top contributing sectors by activity in Wisconsin’s outdoor recreation industry included:

  • Multi-use apparel and accessories: $1.15 billion;
  • Motorcycling/ATV/UTV: $1.1 billion;
  • Boating and Fishing: $710 million;
  • RVing: $553 million.

Notably, travel and tourism, as well as local trips (trips less than 50 miles) associated with outdoor recreation, grew to nearly $3 billion in 2022, increasing by 14.2 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively.

Nationally, the outdoor recreation industry posted record-breaking numbers, too. For the first time, the outdoor industry contributed more than $1 trillion in gross output to the U.S. economy, which accounted for 2.2 percent of the nation’s GDP.

It grew nearly 2.5 times faster than the U.S. economy as a whole, at 4.8 percent, versus 1.9 percent for the U.S. economy. Nationwide, the industry employed nearly five million people. Additional information on Wisconsin’s outdoor industry can be found on the Office of Outdoor Recreation website at: https://outdoorrecreation.wi.gov/Pages/Resources/Report.aspx.

For the national report and state-level data and tables, visit the Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account section of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis website at: https://www.bea.gov/data/special-topics/outdoor-recreation.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.