Interesting news from the Western Governors Conference, which is just now a little more than midway through its June 9-12 2012 annual meeting agenda. The highlight of this meeting is a recently released study, prepared by a Florida outfit called Southwick & Associates, finding that "outdoor recreation in America is more than half a trillion dollar industry," outperformed only by the Financial/Insurance and Outpatient Healthcare industries. Get a load of this interesting report, folks. It's a real eye-opener:
Just what the doctor ordered, wethink, to spur western state governors to take a second look at their own states' outdoor recreation industry promotional opportunities. Hopefully our own Governor Gary Herbert will take note, as his cronies in the legislature jockey for legislation which might compromise Utah's relatively pristine public recreation lands.
Among the featured speakers at this week's Governors' annual shindig, interestingly enough, was Ogden City's own Mayor Mike Caldwell, who took a little time off from his busy workout schedule, and addressed the WGA assemby yesterday, putting Ogden City in the spotlight as the poster child for successful outdoor recreation industry marketing.
While we were unable to find the full text of Mayor Caldwell's WGA address after a fair amount of morning Googling, here's an excerpt gleaned from yesterday's WGA press release which no doubt provides the gist:
Ogden’s strategic investment in recreation infrastructure and promotion of our vast natural resources through world-class events has been the catalyst to attract and recruit an outdoor recreation economic cluster. That cluster has been an integral part in the revitalization and economic growth of our community. This movement has also galvanized the community around a vibrant, healthy and active lifestyle ranking Ogden in the top 10 of America’s best cities to raise a family by Forbes Magazine.Yesiree, the jointly issued WGA/Southwick & Assocs. report is a real eye-opener in its own right; but it's also nice to observe that Mayor Caldwell wasn't just goofing off this weekend and that hizzoner was willing to travel all the way to Cle Elum, Washington (of all places), to tout Ogden City's notable outdoor recreational marketing virtues, don'tcha think?
