The Economic Value of Walking in Rural Wales

Health, entertainment, jobs and sustainable development all come together in simple initiatives with large impacts. A Welsh scholar has evaluated the economic impacts of walking in the Welsh countryside and some findings are unexpected:

"(...) focusing on rural impacts alone, a conservative estimate of the current impact of walking in Wales shows it to be responsible for generating incomes of £55 million and 3,000 jobs, if both direct and indirect impacts are included. If mountaineering activities were also taken into account, a further £22 million and 1,250 jobs would be added.These figures represent around 2 per cent of rural GDP, and about 1 per cent of rural jobs; (...) Creating a job via the mechanism of supporting and improving walking opportunities in the Welsh countryside may be estimated to involve public cost of £433; in contrast, the direct and indirect public cost of supporting a job in agriculture is almost ten times higher, at £4,279."

Full study here.
More information on walking and footpaths in the UK here.