Over 1,081,000 individuals participate in wildlife viewing & birdwatching in Kentucky creating 11,481 jobs and generating $600,000,000 for our economy.
The number of participants and jobs created has increased 20% and 18% respectively since 1996 making it one of the fastest growing "industries" in Kentucky.
Across the U.S., there are over 66,100,000 participants generating $48,400,000,000 in revenue.
If these expenditures were the annual sales revenue of a particular company with a total of $38.4 billion in sales, this company would rank 34th on the Fortune 500 list, just ABOVE Dell Computer ($35.4 billion), UPS ($31.2 billion) and Microsoft ($28.3 billion).
The above are direct expenditures. The total economic impact is two times this or $1,203,100,000 for Kentucky and $76,800,000,000 for the United States!
* The above statistics are from the 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting & Wildlife Associated Recreation.
Click here for more information about elk restoration in Kentucky and viewing opportunities. Plus photos and comments from the 2006 elk hunt.
2000 Elk Bugle Tour Survey Data (survey by Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources of Elk Tours in Kentucky in 2000)
In 2000, 350 people signed up and participated in Bugle Tours. The tours lasted for seven weekends. 117 tour participants completed surveys with the following results.
Participants were from: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia
Males: 59 Females: 56
Age Range: 15 - 75 with an average age of 46
Income Range: $10,000 to $135,000 with the average being $45,430
Miles traveled to get to site: 136 miles on average; ranged from 2 miles to 450 miles.
Accommodations:
71 (64%) stayed overnight:
37 (53%) stayed in a motel
2 (3%) with family or friend
1 (2%) at Jenny Wiley State Resort Park
24 (34%) at Buckhorn State Park
2 (3%) camped
4 (6%) didn't give a response
