Outdoor Participation: What has Changed? 🤔

Hi there, First of all, Happy 4th of July Everyone! Let's celebrate this year in the Great Outdoors! 🥳   Ever wonder who is actually participating in the wide range of outdoors activities? Well, FYI - we have the answers, courtesy of the Outdoor Industry Association that is.   Let's take a look at the key findings first, and then discuss!

WHAT'S UP IN OUTDOOR PARTICIPATION Participation in outdoor recreation grew 4.1% in 2023 to 175.8 million, amounting to 57.3% of the U.S. population. 22.2M more Americans aged six and older are participating in outdoor recreation in 2023 than were participating in 2019. (153.6M in 2019 to 175.8M in 2023)

THE IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING "CORE" STRENGTH The average number of outings per participant in 2023 fell 11.4% from 70.5 outings per participant in 2022 to 62.5 outings per participant in 2023. This data provides us with a leg of the triangle explaining why retail sales are down even though the number of participants increased materially.

WOMEN AS TRAILBLAZERS For the first time ever, more than half of American women are participating in outdoor recreation. The female participation rate reached 51.9% in 2023, up from 50% in 2022. American males found a new level in their participation rate too, which reached a record high of 62.9% in 2023.

THE DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION OPPORTUNITY The participant base became more ethnically and racially diverse in 2023, but not by much. 69.7% of participants are White, 10.3% are Black, 13.4% are Hispanic, 5.3% are Asian or Pacific Islander, and 1.4% identify as people with other ethnic/racial origins.

SENIORS DRIVE GROWTH The participation rates for Americans aged 55 to 64 increased from 41.2% in 2019 to 49.7% in 2023; those 65 and older increased from 28.8% in 2019 to 39.5% in 2023. The participation rate for Americans aged 65 and older grew 11.5% between 2022 and 2023 alone.  A lot to digest there Positives are that considerably more and more people, from all backgrounds are now participating in the outdoors. A little clearer below. And noteworthy that this trend had started well before the beginning of Covid. What's not so positive is that the number of times that they participate, on average, has dropped. So, more are participating, but less frequently. You might think that's because of people being back to the office after Covid, but that's not the case. We're down on where we were 5 years ago, and well below where we were 10 years ago.  One thing is for sure. We need to engage these newer participants more and more, so we can keep them and get them out even more. That's the challenge for CRUA and others. We're working on it! Part of this is we're now designing the perfect camping / outdoors jacket, and we want you to help. A cornerstone of our design ethos is to make sure we're developing what you need. What better way to make sure of that than asking you? Features like tear resistant, waterproof but breathable, PFA free and fire resistant - think campfire embers - are being considered, along with a host of other camping and hiking friendly features. But we want to make sure your voice is heard before launch in October. So sign up below and you'll be kept in the loop every step of the way, and have your say via polls and calls.  Until next week, happy camping and let's get outdoors a little more. It'd be great to break the participation frequency downturn.

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