PARK BRIEFS
NEWS FROM AROUND THE AERIAL ADVENTURE INDUSTRY
Procedures is the intention to get more viewpoints and input early during the standards-writing process, so that the resulting draft represents a broad consensus of industry stakeholders. In the past, ACCT had limited involvement in the early stages. “We want to move forward with a more understand- able and transparent process,” APTF and ACCT board member Michael Smith told API . The AP also calls for balanced representation in the Consensus Body (formerly the Consensus Group), to include five stakeholder groups: producers, servicers, user commercial, user educational, and general inter- est. The new groups replace the former three, which were vendors, users, and general interest.
these steps are complete, ACCT can begin the work of drafting the update to the standards. • Outdoor Participation Trends Report: More Participants, Less Frequency
percent), running/jogging (17.9 percent), fishing (18.2 percent), and hiking (20 percent). Comparatively high participation in these activities was attributed to their accessibility to casual participants. The report also signaled upticks in participation for key demographics. For the first time, more than half of American women participated in outdoor recreation, and the number of senior participants, age 65 and older, grew 11.5 percent year-over-year. Findings note marginal growth in ethnic and racial diversity from 28.8 percent in 2022 to 30.4 percent in 2023, including increases for Black and Hispanic participants. Members of the LGBTQ+ community continued to be the most active adult cohort. “The findings of this report [are] a clear call for our outdoor ecosystem, including outdoor industry and public sector efforts, to work together to increase par - ticipation by prioritizing representation and inclusion in design, marketing, programming, outreach, and advocacy,” said Outdoor Foundation executive director Lesford Duncan. The 2024 Annual Outdoor Participation Trends Report reflects data gathered during the 2023 calendar year and garnered a total of 18,000 online survey respondents.
By David Meeker
The Outdoor Foundation (OF) and Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) reported that the outdoor recreation participation base grew 4.1 percent in 2023 to a record 175.8 million participants. According to the organizations’ 2024 Outdoor Participa- tion Trends Report, 57.3 percent of Americans age 6 and older participated in outdoor recreation in 2023, but the frequency with which they participated, on average, was down 11.4 percent compared to 2022. The top five outdoor recreation activities by partic - ipation rate included bicycling (17.2 percent of the total population age 6 and older), camping (17.7
(For more on the AP, see “Charting a New Course for Standards,” Park Briefs, API Spring/Summer 2024.)
Next steps are for ACCT to make the necessary admin- istrative changes, which include revising some terms and definitions as well as populating the stakeholder groups as described above. ACCT also plans to create several educational opportunities—such as posts on its website, webinars, stakeholder meetings, and workshops—for industry members to learn about the changes and how to take part in the next draft. Once
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