Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development

 

 

Archive for Tourism and Outdoor Recreation

West Virginia town with people enjoying a bike path and creek.

WVU Extension leads efforts to enhance sustainability of tourism in rural communities

July 8, 2026

This article by Hannah Booth (West Virginia University Division for Land-Grant Engagement) highlights the Tourism, Resiliency and Indicators for Post-Pandemic Planning (TRIP) project and a recently published study by the TRIP project team. NERCRD Director Stephan Goetz, Associate Director Stephen Alessi, and Faculty Affiliate Luyi Han are members of the project team. The TRIP project is led by WVU’s Doug Arbogast, who is also a member of the NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee.

aerial view of mixed forested and farmed landscape

Finding new ways to measure the local sustainability of rural tourism

May 27, 2026

Tourism affects local populations differently in counties across the U.S., but measuring these effects may now be easier thanks to a new tool developed as part of a study by researchers at Penn State/NERCRD and West Virginia University Extension. For the study, published in the journal Tourism Economics, the researchers developed a sustainability index to assess how tourism affects counties according to a number of factors that measure the areas’ economic, social and environmental well-being. They found that counties relying heavily on tourism varied widely in their ability to keep it from overwhelming local resources, with no destination performing well on every dimension.

Exploring sustainable tourism indicators (STIs) for the U.S. with secondary data

In this article, the researchers propose using secondary data to develop a novel composite sustainable tourism indicator while also addressing advantages and limitations of the survey-based approaches used in Europe to measure sustainability in tourism. They apply this indicator to recreation-dependent U.S. counties and find that while some counties improve across multiple sustainability dimensions, others experience inconsistent trends, highlighting the complex relationships between tourism development and local community well-being.

Authors: Luyi Han, Stephan Goetz, Doug Arbogast, and Daniel Eades

Publication: Tourism Economics   Date Published: May 22, 2026

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Four people gathered around an academic poster in a conference room.

2025 NETtra Tourism Conference Proceedings extends the reach of conference and tourism research

January 7, 2026

In a first-time collaboration between the National Extension Tourism (NET) Network and the Northeast Chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (NETTRA), the NETtra Tourism Conference was hosted by the University of New Hampshire in October 2025. The two groups just released proceedings from the conference to extend the reach of the research and […]

Four people standing in front of a conference sponsorship table

Dispatch from the 2025 NETtra Conference: “Connecting Through Tourism” in Meredith, NH

November 10, 2025

In early October, tourism researchers, educators, and practitioners  from across the country gathered in Meredith, New Hampshire, for the 2025 NETtra conference — a first-time collaboration between the National Extension Tourism Network (NET) and the Northeast Travel and Tourism Research Association (NETTRA). As a longtime partner of NET, NERCRD was proud to sponsor this event, which was hosted by the University of New Hampshire Extension in Meredith, NH. NERCRD’s Stephen Alessi attended, along with Kristen Devlin, who shared this recap. 

Fostering Sustainable Growth in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest

The Allegheny National Forest region offers significant potential for sustainable tourism growth by balancing environmental protection and economic development. Researchers from West Virginia University and Penn State and their local collaborators drew on the perspectives of ANF visitors and residents in a survey conducted in 2024. This article shares key findings from the survey.

Authors: Claudia Schmidt, Douglas Arbogast, Jinyang Deng, and Stephan J. Goetz

Publication: Penn State Extension   Date Published: June 25, 2025

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Insights on Agritourism Among Producers in Western U.S. States: Evidence from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey

This report presents findings from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey. A total of 136 survey participants identified themselves as being in a Western region states by reporting the postal (ZIP) code of their farm. (To access the national-level findings, visit this page.) This survey is part of a larger project aimed at defining and enhancing the agritourism support system in the United States.

2024-Western Insights-National-Agritourism-Producer-Survey.6-4-2025Download

Authors: Jason Entsminger, Claudia Schmidt, Sarah Cornelisse, and Jackie Schweichler

Publication: NERCRD Research Brief   Date Published: June 3, 2025

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Insights on Agritourism Among Maine Producers: Evidence from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey

This report presents Maine-specific findings from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey, conducted in part to address the type of knowledge gaps just identified. The online survey was open from March through August 2024, and 2,139 agritourism operators across the United States responded. A total of 94 survey participants identified themselves as being in Maine by reporting the postal (ZIP) code of their farm.

Authors: Jason Entsminger (University of Maine); Claudia Schmidt (Penn State and NERCRD); Sarah Cornelisse and Jackie Schweichler (Penn State)

Publication: Published by NERCRD   Date Published: May 2, 2025

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Insights on Agritourism Among US Producers: Evidence from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey 

This report presents findings from the 2024 National Agritourism Producer Survey. This survey is part of a larger project aimed at defining and enhancing the agritourism support system in the United States. The primary objective of conducting this survey was to identify areas where targeted interventions and programs can support agritourism development across the country.

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Authors: Claudia Schmidt (Penn State and NERCRD), Jason Entsminger (University of Maine), Sarah Cornelisse and Jackie Schweichler (Penn State)

Publication: Published by NERCRD   Date Published: April 21, 2025

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New report examines Land-Grant University capacity to support outdoor recreation economies

October 15, 2024

A new report sheds light on the readiness of Land-Grant Universities (LGUs) to support the development of outdoor recreation economies around U.S. national forests, and identifies the places best positioned to allocate resources for recreation economy programming. It draws on an assessment conducted earlier this year by West Virginia University Rural Tourism Specialist Doug Arbogast in partnership with the National Extension Outdoor Recreation Working Group and the Regional Rural Development Centers.

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