BEDFORD — More than 50 business and community leaders gathered at Omni Bedford Springs on Wednesday night to discuss the results of a wide-ranging study on county tourism trends that indicate developing outdoor recreation assets is key to local economic growth.

The study, which was conducted by Pittsburgh advertising agency Red House Communications, was commissioned in 2024 by the Bedford County Development Association to gain a better understanding of local travel and tourism.

According to vice president Jennifer Marsh, the Bedford County Board of Commissioners approached the BCDA a few years ago with a “request to move outdoor recreation forward for the county.”

This study, which included visitor surveys and stakeholder meetings, is an important step toward that goal.

In addition, the BCDA has completed a trail connectivity study and a peer management study for outdoor trail assets, Marsh said.

Outdoor recreation assets give Bedford businesses a “significant competitive edge,” Marsh said, so continuing to invest in these assets would be a net positive for the community.

The more people who come into the county for outdoor recreation, the more people patronize locally owned small businesses, she said, in turn increasing their “economic vitality.”

According to Marsh, BCDA reached out to Red House for their help in understanding traveller demographics, motivation and how to utilize these travelers as word-of-mouth marketers.

Red House director of research and analytics Anna Dragotta presented a summary of the studies findings, which included a demographic analysis of travelers.

According to Dragotta, more than 60% of the nearly 2,000 visitors who came to Bedford over the past five years were millennials, often coming with their spouse and children.

“When we started this engagement, we didn’t have a very clear idea of who these people are, where they come from, what age groups, what are they doing here, how did they like their visit,” Dragotta said.

Red House used visitor surveys to understand these demographics and to garner feedback on their trip to Bedford, noting what specific experiences stuck out to them and which experiences could be improved.

“The finding … that kept coming back to us is that we see a lot of opportunity in nature in outdoor recreation,” Dragotta said.

A quarter of survey participants can be described as “outdoor enthusiasts,” Dragotta said, who listed active or leisurely outdoor recreation as their main reason for traveling to Bedford.

“When people travel for nature, for outdoor recreation, they also boost the local economy because it’s not just nature they’re interested in,” Dragotta said. “They like local dining, they visit local events, they shop, they do many things in addition to visiting nature.”

And of the 97% of survey participants who said they would definitely come back or consider returning to Bedford County, their No. 1 reason is for nature and outdoor recreation, Dragotta said.

Several of these respondents explicitly cited the area’s “beautiful scenery,” “amazing nature trails” and “abundant opportunities for outdoor (recreation)” in their explanations for why they would plan a second visit, she said.

“They provided feedback that Bedford should invest in nature and outdoor opportunities,” Dragotta said.

Outdoor recreation has buoyed economies across the region in recent years, with neighboring Cambria County investing in its 49-mile ghost town trail and the Blair County Commissioners considering a changeup in bed tax allocation to fund new trail assets.

Nathan Reigner, who was appointed as the first statewide director of outdoor recreation at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 2022, joined a panel of Red House DCNR and local marketing experts to discuss the studies results.

According to Reigner, the outdoor recreation industry generated $19 billion in revenue for the commonwealth in 2023, which was 2% of Pennsylvania’s gross domestic product that year.

This flow of capital also supports more than 168,000 jobs across the state, he said.

“Outdoor recreation is an industry and is a strategic tool for economic development,” Reigner said.

Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Fayette, attended the meeting as an audience member and praised BCDA’s efforts during the closing Q&A session.

“I’m hearing more and more that people are moving here, that businesses are moving here because their employees want to be in a place where there are things to do outside,” Stefano said.

His hometown of Connellsville has benefitted from outdoor recreation, as the Great Allegheny Passage runs along the Youghiogheny River through the downtown area, he said.

The Comfort Inn Hotel in Connellsville opened a new event center in December 2024, Stefano said, which was due, in part, to the revenue the hotel generates from its proximity to the trail.

“That would have never happened without the trail being there,” Stefano said. “We have $20 million in private investment coming in because the trail is there.”

Mirror Staff Writer Conner Goetz is at 814-946-7535.