Head of User Services
& Business Librarian
Websites for Industry Statistics and Trends
Below are a few trade sites and organizations that provide useful information on the outdoor industry. I will add to the list as I discover additional useful links.
- Ohio’s 2018 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP)Completed every five years, provides up-to-date information on statewide outdoor recreation priorities and current recreation trends in the state.
Tools for Broad Industry Research
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IbisWorld is a great resource to get a broad understanding of large industries within the United States.
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Use this as an introduction to industries to become more familiar with what’s happening in your prospective industry.
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Because the reports are so specific, you won't find anything for "outdoor industry," but rather reports for hunting, fishing, hiking stores, parks, etc. which you can use to understand the broader outdoor industry.
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First Research is a nice compliment to IbisWorld and will also cover broad industries.
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Use First Research to get a different perspective on the industry than IbisWorld offers.
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Suggested reports include "Recreational and Vacation Camps," "Recreatonal Vehicle Parks / Dealers," "Boat Dealers," etc.
- First Research
Provides industry profiles on over 600 industry segments. The reports are very easy to read and can help you gather a quick understanding of the industry.
- Use Statista to find statistics on outdoor activities.
- For example, a search for "mountain biking" or "trail running" is likely to be more fruitful than "outdoor industry."
Articles About the Industry
- Use Business Source Complete to find trade publications, articles and reports about the outdoor industry and its activities.
- Businses Source Complete is also a good place to look for articles about ecotourism and outdoor recreation and tourism.
- Business Source Complete
Provides full text access of more than 3500 journals, trade publications, magazines, company reports, and more, in the disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance and more.
Also useful for finding company profiles, industry profiles, and SWOT analysis for companies.
- Search Environment Complete for the same terms you used in Business Source Complete.
- You'll find articles from mostly environmental and ecological publications, as opposed to business articles, which can give you a look at the industry through a different lens.
- Environment CompleteEnvironment Complete covers applicable areas of agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more. Contains citations for articles from 1,200 domestic and international journals, as well as 100 monographs. The database provides full text for many of the most used journals in the discipline, and for the conference papers of the North American Association of Environmental Education.
- Use a similar search strategy in Hospitality & Tourism Complete to get articles from travel and tourism publications.
- Once again, this can give you a different perspective on the outdoor industry and its activities.
- Hospitality & Tourism CompleteArticle database on all aspects of hospitality industry: country overviews, hotel and restaurant management, cookery, ecotourism, business aspects. Good for scholarly tourism research.