by John Dinsmore - OFTR director
One of the most influential ways to demonstrate to stakeholders that the recreational off road motorcycling community in Ontario is beneficial to the communities where we live and play is via economic impact. The OFTR recently completed a study, with the help of our members and The Tourism Company, an independent tourism consulting company, to identify the annual economic benefits of recreational trail riding in Ontario.
A three step process was used: one was a member survey conducted in May of this year, two was an estimate of the spending by Ontario households on recreational off road riding and three was an estimate of economic benefits based on the Ontario Ministry of Tourism's Regional Economic Impact Model (TREIM). This model is widely used within the Ontario tourism industry, hence has a high degree of acceptance and credibility.
The economic benefits for the province of Ontario during 2008 generated by Ontario household spending of approximately $132.4 million on motorcycle trail-riding activities are estimated to be:
- Approximately $98.4 million of Gross Domestic Product including approximately $58.2 million of Labour Income from 1,411 person years of employment;
- Approximately $288,200 of Municipal tax revenues;
- Approximately $23.7 million of Provincial tax revenues; and
- Approximately $27.8 million of Federal tax revenues.
These are certainly impressive numbers and we now have a base that we can use to demonstrate the positive economic impact that recreational off-road riding has in the province.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REPORT
A full copy of the study is in the OFTR website in our Library.
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