Study: Outdoor Tourism has $1 Billion Dollar Economic Impact on the Black Belt
On Wednesday the Alabama Black Belt Adventures Association celebrated 10 years of promoting Alabama’s Black Belt region to outdoorsmen and women around the country.
The non-profit group was joined by Alabama Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth to release an economic study, highlighting the impact that hunters, anglers, and outdoor recreation have on the Black Belt region and Alabama’s economy.
In 2018, for the Black Belt region outdoor recreation generated:
- 24,716 jobs.
- $364 million dollars in salary and wages.
- $62 million dollars in state and local taxes.
- More than 42% of hunting days in Alabama were spent in the Black Belt.
- Combined expenditures by resident and non-resident hunters is an estimated $540 million dollars.
In the state of Alabama in 2018 outdoor recreation generated:
- 73,553 jobs.
- $1.1 billon dollars in salary and wages.
- $185 million in state and local taxes.
- TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT = $3.2 billion dollars.
The black belt is a 23 county region of Central Alabama that is know for it’s rich, fertile black topsoil that provides lush habitat and supports and abundance of wildlife.
As incredible as these numbers are, unfortunately many times those dollars do not go into the rural area’s that provide these opportunities. Some of the best outdoor opportunities in the Black Belt are in impoverished areas. In the many rural area’s of the Black Belt, outdoor enthusiast are bringing the goods that they need into the area and not purchasing those goods there.
” A lot of times, there are no stores in these rural area’s for them to buy the goods that they need. We need to be able to create more local businesses in the area’s, so they can buy the things they need where they are, and those dollars stay in those communities,” says Senator Bobby Singleton of Greensboro who is an avid hunter and angler.
