On an overall basis persons in one-or-two person
households have lower than average rates as do those
in households with seven or more. For small house-
holds this appears to be an age effect to some extent
since it is reduced for the one-person, and eliminated
for the two-person households within age classes.
However, in the very large households—those with
seven or more—the effect appears quite real within
all age classes,

The average person on vacation travels more than
1,200 miles, is away from home slightly more than
10 days, and spends an average of slightly more than
$8 per day or $80 in all (tables 5.44 and 5.45).
Distance traveled by persons on vacation rises some-
what with age from roughly 800 miles in the 12 to 17
year age bracket to about 1,500 miles for those 45
years or more, Distance traveled also rises with in-
come and with the degree of urbanization. There is a
slight tendency for greater distances to be traveled on
winter and spring vacations than on those which are
taken in the summer and fall.

TRIP CHARACTERISTICS

During the year from June 1960 through May 1961
persons 12 years and over went on 111 million rec~
reation trips, on which they were away from home
260 million person-days, spent $1.25 billion and
traveled 25 billion passenger-miles. As was the
ease with vacations, the summer is the most popular
period for outdoor recreation trips, nearly half being
taken during this season of the year. About half of
the time away from home also occurs during the sum-
mer; however, only roughly 45 percent of the total
expenditures and passenger-miles are accounted for
by this season.

For the year as a whole fishing is by far the most
important reason for which trips are undertaken as
may be seen in table 5.37. However, during the fall
and winter hunting season, hunting becomes more
important than fishing in this respect although the
former is in fourth place with respect to the year as a
whole, Camping appears as an important primary
reason for undertaking an outdoor recreation trip in
all seasons of the year and particularly in the spring.
Swimming is also important but primarily inthe sum-
mer. Although during the winter nearly 10 percent of
all trips are undertaken to engage in winter sports,
even during this season many more trips are primarily
for fishing.

On the average trip a person travels 225 miles, is
away from home roughly 2 1/2 days, and spends just
under $5 a day or $11.50 for the trip, The duration
of trips shows very little variation across seasons of
the year or across the socioeconomic characteristic
(table 5.46). There is a tendency within all classes
for trips undertaken in the fall to cover greater dis-
tances and to be somewhat more expensive than trips
during other seasons of the year. Winter trips, on the
other hand, cover somewhat shorter distances and are
slightly less expensive, though the contrast here is
less persistent and less pronounced.

The percent of persons with one or more trips is
shown by season of the year and socioeconomic
characteristics in table 5.39, It appears that in all
seasons of the year men and boys of all ages are more

64

apt to go on recreation trips than are the women and
girls, However, the women and girls who do go on
trips travel as far, are away from home about the
same length of time, and spend approximately the
same amount as their male counterparts. The per-
cent of persons with one or more trips during the
summer rises across the family income distribution
from 6 percent of those with less than-$1,500 a year
to 27 percent of those with $8,000 a year and levels
off thereafter. In the fallthe same pattern is apparent.
However, in the winter and spring, although these
seasons remain less popular, comparatively much
higher percentages of those with family incomes of
$15,000 or more undertake at least one trip.

Percent of persons with one or more trips is high
in the Western region of the United States and low in
the Northeastern States in all seasons of the year.
No uniform progression can be observed for this
percentage by the place of residence distribution.
On the average person-trip, those with incomes of
$3,000 or less travel about half of the distance of
those with $10,000 or more while the picture for the
middle income group is somewhat mixed (table 5.46).
The per-person-per-day expenditures rise even more
sharply across the income group from less than $2
for those with incomes below $1,500 per year to $8 for
those with incomes of $15,000, or more, The pro-
gression of per-person-per-day expenditures is quite
uniform across the income distribution except for the
$3,000 to $8,000 family income size classes for which
there is some leveling off.

OUTING CHARACTERISTICS

During the year June 1960-May 1961, persons 12
years and over went on 810 million outdoor recreation
outings on which they spent $1.7 billion and traveled
42 billion passenger-miles. Persons are not away
from home overnight on outings but are away from
home for the major part of the day, outings averaging
approximately 8 hours each, Hence it becomes legiti-
mate to consider each outing a day away from home in
pursuit of outdoor recreation, When so considered, the
importance of outings approaches that of vacations, and
exceeds the importance of outdoor recreation trips.
As has been noted above, persons are much less apt
to incur away-from-home expenses on outings than they
are on vacations and trips. The distance traveledon a
typical outing is considerably shorter than that of the
other two occasions types, and the total expenses often
average less than 50 cents per occasion, All that is
needed in the way of food and refreshment is often
carried from home.

As may be seen from table 5.40, nearly three-fifths
of all persons went on at least one outing during the
summer with nearly two-fifths so engaged at least
one time during the fall. This Percentage drops to
one-fifth for the winter but rises to one-third for the
spring,

During all seasons of the year the proportion of
persons with one or more outings is high for the
youngest age class and considerably lower for the
oldest age class with systematic declines across the
age distribution,



hand are highest for the youngest age group for both
sexes so that this measure declines with age across
the entire range.

The place of residence distributions shown in the
tables may be thought of as an ordering from high to
low urbanization. Per capita money-traveltime on out-
door recreation occasions are highest among those
most thoroughly urbanized and lowest for the rural
farm group for the year as awhole and in the summer
in allcases. Most exceptions to the annual and summer
patterns occur in the winter. Except for the tendency
for per capita rates to be higher among those living
in the proximity of large cities but in rural areas
than among those in urban places outside of standard
metropolitan areas, the arrangement is nearly always
by degree of urbanization, The range of difference is
much greater with respect to expenditures than for
distance traveled and time away from home, parti-
cularly in the summer months, with relatively low
variation in the winter. Rates for persons residing
on farms are higher than average during the off-
season winter months for time away from home and
below average for the other two measures.

Within the major regions of the United States,
annual per capita expenditures are highest in the
Northeast ($100), followed by the West ($80), North
Central region ($65), and the South ($55). The regional
pattern of expenditures is repeated in all seasons of
the year except the winter which finds the South in
first place and the North Central in last. On the basis
of per capita expenditures, the sharpest regional dif-
ferences in weather during the winter appear to be
between the Northeast and the South: the effect is
such that persons living in the Northeast spend only
10 percent, while persons inthe South spend more than
20 percent of their annual totals during the winter
months. Per capita distance traveled and days away
from home follow different regionalpatterns: the West
about ties with the Northeast on both in the spring but
is found in first place in all other seasons of the year,
with the North Central or South the last. On all
measures, however, the range of difference across the
regions is much less than that found by other factors.

On the per capita basis discussed above, the pat-
terns described for all occasions combined in general
are also quite closely followed within occasion type
and distribution of the population by income, place of
residence, and major region. In the case of the age-
sex distribution, however, males are found tobe much
more active than females on both trips and outings
in all seasons of the year. With vacations accounting
for the bulk of activity in both groups, and females the
more active during summer and fall occasions of this
type, the all occasion totals reveal only the moderate
differences which have been noted.

VACATION CHARACTERISTICS

During the year from June 1960 through May 1961,
persons 12 years and over took nearly 80 million
vacations on which they spent $6.8 billion, traveled
more than 100 billion passenger-miles and remained
away from home more than 800 million person-days.
The number of vacations per person in the population
(table 5.38) may be interpreted as the proportion of
Persons with a vacation within any one season of the

63

year, but may not be so interpreted, of course, within
the year as a whole since multiple vacation persons
are included more than once in the annual total.
From the total, however, it becomes clear that only
for those with family incomes of $15,000 or more
can it be said with certainty that multiple vacations
do occur. It is likely, of course, that at least some
multiple vacations occur within all of the classes
shown with the proportion increasing, perhaps quite
sharply, across the income distribution.

During the summer months, the most likely candi-
dates for vacations are persons from 12 to 17 years
and persons with family incomes of $8,000 or more.
For this younger school age group more than two-
thirds of all vacations are taken during the summer
months, while for the higher family income group,
particularly those with incomes of $15,000 or more
per year, the number of occasions is spread more
evenly throughout the year. The rate of vacation
taking of those with family incomes of $15,000 or
more is nearly twice that of the all class average
for the year as a whole—in the summer 40 percent
higher while in other seasons of the year the rate for
those in the highest income class doubles or triples.

It is of interest that the rate of vacation taking for
persons living on farms is higher than average during
the winter and considerably below average for all other
seasons of the year. Also of interest is the fact that
in the South during the winter the vacation rate re-
mains high,

As has been noted, the summer months constitute
the most popular period for vacations away from home.
For this season, tables 1.07 and 1.08 show the percent
of persons with vacations by age, cross-classified by
family income, number of persons in household, race,
state of health, physical inpairments, and region. As
has also been noted there is considerable inter-
correlation between age and family income. This
places particular interest on examination of the per-
cent of persons with vacations within groups of the
population cross-classified by these characteristics.
It appears that the income distribution has a smaller
effect at the younger ages than at the older ages.
It is also apparent that the age effect is much more
Pronounced at the lower income levels than at the
higher income levels. It is also suggested that for
the summer months the proportion of persons taking
vacations away from home tends to level off for
incomes of $8,000 a year or more.

Within major regions of the United States, the South
has the lowest rate of vacation taking. However, when
the cross-classification by major region and family
income is examined, it appears that the rate for the
South is not significantly lower than the all region
average within any income class—suggesting that the
lower rate for the South is attributable entirely to
differentials in income between the regions.

There appears to be no significant difference be-
tween the rate of taking summer vacations between
persons who consider their health excellent as opposed
to good, However, those reporting fair or poor health
were much less apt to take a vacation. Similarly,
those reporting limiting impairments vacation at a
somewhat lower than average rate within all age groups
and for the population as a whole; however, in this
case the effect is much less pronounced.



During the summer and spring, there are no signifi-
cant differences between the sexes with regard toper-
cent of persons with one or more outings: however,
during the fall and winter—probably because of the
importance of hunting as the major purpose of outings
during these seasons (table 5.37)—there is a greater
tendency for men and boys to engage in outings. For
the year as a whole, picnicking appears as the most
important reason for going on an outing. However, pic-
nicking appears as the most important single major
purpose in no particular season of the year. Swimming
becomes the most important major purpose of summer
outings, accounting for one-third. Attending outdoor
sports events is the most important during the fall

65

football season, Hunting is firmly infirst place during
the winter and fishing during the spring.

The percent of persons with summer outings rises
from 30 percent for those with family incomes $1,500
or less to about 60 percent for those with $3,000 to
$4,500 and levels off for those with higher incomes.
The same pattern is repeated in the fall and the spring:
however, a much sharper rise across the income dis-
tribution can be observed for the winter. Among the
regions, higher proportions of all persons in the West
go on at least one outing. However, the South makes a
better showing with respect to outings than with respect
to either vacations or trips.



CHAPTER SEVEN

THREE TYPES OF OUTDOOR RECREATION OCCASIONS: VACATIONS,

TRIPS, AND OUTINGS '

The extent to which participation in particular
outdoor recreation activities occurs on special occa-
sions varies by activity according to the locations
of facilities necessary for participation. While it
is not possible to distribute participation for any
activity among the three types of occasions con-
sidered here (and a fourth type representing casual
participation for brief periods in facilities close
at hand), it is clear, for example, that all camping
and much fishing, hunting, swimming, and boating
occur on vacations, trips, and outings. Different
units of measurement are introduced for the purpose
of analyzing participation on these occasions.

RECREATION RELATED EXPENDITURES

During 1960, leisure time related spending is
estimated as in the neighborhood of $40 billion or
12 percent of all personal consumption expenditures.
All outdoor recreation related spending is estimated
at roughly half the leisure time total, 2/ with half of
the outdoor total—$10 million or 3 percent of con-
sumption expenditures—by persons 12 years or over
while away from their home communities on vaca-
tions and outdoor recreation trips and outings.

The four national recreation surveys secured in-
formation on the activity of persons 12 years and
over while away from home on three types of outdoor
recreation occasions in terms of their expenditures,
round trip distance traveled and time away from
home, These measures of activity are available by
type of occasion and season of the year, June 1960-
May 1961, on an overall total basis in table 17,
and on a per capita, as well as selected person-
occasion and person-day average basis, by the follow-
ing socioeconomic characteristics: age-sex, family
income, major region, and place of residence (tables
1.07, 1,08, 1.10, and 5.38-5.46).

Vacations include the most recent away-from-home
occasion persons 12 years and over consider a vaca-
tion: this type includes occasions showing substantial
variation in each of the three activity measures—
namely time, money, and distance. Information for
all but the most recent vacations, of persons with
more than one within any particular season of the
year, is included with data on trips providing the
major purpose of the occasions has to do with
participation in outdoor recreation. On trips persons

YThis chapter and chapter 8 were prepared by Betty C. Churchill.

2/"Qutdoor Recreation for America,” a report to the President
and to the Congress by the Outdoor Recreation Resources
Review Commission, January 1962, p. 78-79.

60

are away from home at least overnight. This occa-
sion type shows much less variation in time and
money spent as well as distance traveled: the average
person was away from home 2 1/2 days, traveled
225 miles, and spent nearly $5 per day on the average
trip. Outings, by definition, include outdoor recrea-
tion occasions on which persons were away from home
the major part of the day—8 hours on the average
with little variation—but not overnight. In the per
capita and total time away from home estimates,
each person-outing is included as 1 day.

The national recreation surveys also secured in-
formation on expenditures during the previous year
for selected personal articles and family possessions
important for participation in related major types
of outdoor recreation. Table 18 presents the percent
of persons residing in households in which such
expenditures were made, as well as estimates of the
total annual expenditures,

The nearly $2 billion total for the selected articles
is thought to represent an important share of all
expenditures for equipment associated with outdoor
recreation. On the other hand, to the extent that
these purchases occurred on vacations, trips, and
outings there is duplication between total expendi-
tures shown for selected articles and for recreation
occasions,

As was noted above, 3 percent of all personal con-
sumption expenditures are by persons 12 years and
over, away from home onvacations, trips, and outings.
The nearly 2 billion days spent on these occasions
represent about the same proportion—4 percent—of
the total time available to these persons. Recreation
travel, on the other hand, represents more than 20
percent of all domestic intercity passenger-miles
by all modes of transportation. It should be noted
that the global comparison in the latter case is com-
plicated by the inclusion of oversea recreation travel
in National Recreation Survey data: this overstate-
ment may not be properly balanced by the inclusion
of travel by persons under 12 years in the domestic
tof

Vacations are by far the most important recreation
occasion type when activity is measured by expendi-
tures and distance, as may be seen from the table
above. In terms of time, however, outings emerge
as an important occasion type which accounts for
nearly as many days away from home as vacations.
Moreover, definitions require the major purpose of
outings to be outdoor recreation oriented while such
a condition is assumed, but not imposed, for vaca-
tions,

Most activity occurs in the summer which accounts
for 45 percent of the dollar and slightly more than
half of the time expenditures. The fall is the next



Table 17. Estimates of expenditures, distance traveled and time away from home by type of occasion and season

National Recreation Survey

A Occasion type Season of the year
" Vacetions | Trips | Outings | Summer Fall Winter Spring

Expenditures (million dollars)... 9,782 6,832 1,265 1,685 4,344 2,374 1,467 1,597
Distance (billion passenger-miles) 168 101 25 42 82 4 a 23
Time oway from home (million

days) . 1,907 836 261 810 980 AST 209 261

Percent Distributions
f

Expenditures 100 3) 13 7 45 m4 15 16
Distance | 100 60 15 25 9 m4 12 4
Time. i 100 44 14 42 51 24 un 4

Table 18. Percent of persons 12 years and over in
households having expenditures for recreation
articles and annual expenditures

National Recreation Survey*

‘Annual
Article Percent of | expenditure

persons (million

dollars)
Inboard motorboat . . 0.2 121
Other boat .. 1.5 410
Outboard motor. 1.8 339
Boot trailer 1.0 94
Rod and ree 7.2 120
Shotgun or rifle. 27 126
Tent large enough to stand 5 16
Golf set .. 1.0 65
Vacation trailer 2 106
Vacation cottag 2 313
Total above articles .. 1710

*Average annual expenditure estimates are based on four surveys
which were conducted during September and December 1960, and
Morch and June 1961. In each survey information was secured
on expenditures for selected articles during the year previous
to the date of the survey.

most popular season representing about one-fourth
the annual total by all three measures, As would be
expected, the winter represents the low point of the
year with respect to activity in outdoor recreation
occasions, By these measures, however, spring
activity exceeds the winter only slightly.

Table 5.36 presents total expenditures by season
of the year, type of occasion, and category of ex-
pense. For all types of occasions combined, trans-
portation accounts for the largest (about one-third)
and the food the second largest (more than one-
quarter) proportion of all expenditures. These cate-~
gories are also the largest within each occasion type
with food expenditures on trips and outings slightly
exceeding those for transportation. Expenditures on
cabins, hotel rooms, and other lodgings are not in-
curred on outings, but are next in importance on
vacations and trips on which they respectively account
for 23 and 19 percent of the total. Recreation other

than outdoor types consumes about 5 percent, and
miscellaneous expenditures about 10 percent, of the
totals. The distribution of expenditures by these
categories of expense is reasonably constant across
the seasons of the year.

Direct expenditures for outdoor recreation amount
to 8 percent of the annual total for all types of oc-
casions combined. This category includes fees paid
for access to parks, bathing beaches, golf courses, and
other public or private recreation areas, as well as
guide fees, hunting and fishing licenses (if purchased
while away from home on the occasions), and the
like. Despite the fact that much outdoor recreation
is available without payment of fees and that fees
when imposed for use of public facilities are usually
nominal, some insight may be gained through special
consideration of this item of expense.

The importance of the outing is again emphasized
by the fact that more than half of all outdoor rec-
reation expenditures are incurred on occasions of
this: type. By way of contrast it again should be noted
that outings account for only 17 percent of total all
occasion expenditures. Only one-third of the direct
expenditures on outdoor recreation are incurred on
vacations—as opposed to nearly 70 percent of all
expenses, Trips, on the other hand, account for about
the same proportions of all expenses (13 percent)
and outdoor recreation expenses (15 percent).

Outdoor recreation expenditures as a proportion of
total expense also show suggestive patterns within
types of occasions and seasons of the year: 8percent
for all occasions combined; 4 percent for vacations
in each season of the ye: 9 percent on all trips
(nearly 20 percent during the winter); and 25 percent
on all outings (more than 30 percent in both fall and
winter). Contrasts of this kind were entirely absent
or much less pronounced for all other categories of
expense considered above.

In preparing the distribution of expenditures by
category of expense within occasion types and seasons
of the year, adjustment was made for expenditures
reported in the form of “package fees.” For vaca-
tions roughly 15 percent of all expenditures are in
this form, These package fees may cover anything
from all expense tours around the world to small
proportions of vacationers’ total expense representing
various combinations of selected categories and
brief parts of the total vacationperiods. The complete

61



expenditure record of each person with a vacation
package fee was examined: the entire package fee was
distributed to the missing, or unreasonably light,
categories according to the known distribution for other
persons in the same age-sex income class, Package
fees were much less important in the case of trips (3
percent of the total) and outings (1 1/2 percent). For
these occasions, package fee expenditures were dis-
tributed among the categories according to the distri-
bution of all persons without package fees.

It should also be noted that by no means do all
persons incur expenses in any or all categories on all
occasions. Detailed information on this point is
presented only for the summer (table 1.10) but this
season is quite representative of the other three in
this respect. The proportion of occasions on which
persons incurred expense of 50 cents or more show
marked differences by occasion type, category of ex-
pense, and socioeconomic characteristics.

Nearly everyone taking a vacation incurred ex-
pense of some kind—usually at least for transpor-
tation, Expenses for lodging, however, occurred
among only slightly more than half of the vacation-
ists: this proportion rises for those in the 45 to
64 age class, in large cities, or with family incomes
above $6,000 per year. Persons with family in-
comes below $3,000 per year incur lodging expense
with the lowest frequency, probably reflecting a
tendency for these persons to spend vacations with
friends or relatives. This observation also holds
true for women more than 65 years old and for
persons living in rural areas on farms. More than
three-fourths of all persons on vacations incur ex-
penses for food, two-fifths for outdoor recreation
fees as well as for miscelluneous expenditures, and
one-quarter for other recreation. The pattern of
variation across socioeconomic characteristics of the
above categories is generally the same as that ob-
served for lodging expenditures.

On trips more than 10 percent of all persons incur
no expenses of any kind with this proportion rising to
30 percent for boys 12-17 years. Many of the latter
occasions probably involve organizational activities
on weekends spent by young boys close to home. On
trips, as well as on vacations, transportation is the
most usual type of expense. Lodging expenses appear
in 22 percent of the cases—less than half the vacation
rate. Expenditures for food are incurred much more
often (46 percent) but, again, smaller proportions of
Persons buy food on trips than on vacations. Only
about 20 percent of outdoor recreation trips involve
direct expenditures for outdoor recreation, with the
25 to 44 years age group higher than any other sub-
group of the population shown.

On outings only 60 percent of all persons incur
expense away from home, and only one-third of all
persons spend as much as 50 cents for transportation
or for food. Outdoor recreation expenses occur on
one-fifth of the outings—the same proportion as on
trips. Expenditures for other recreation and mis-
cellaneous items falls off very sharply in the case
of outings.

On all three types of occasions persons 65 years
and over incur outdoor recreation expense infre-
quently as do persons with family incomes below

62

$3,000. However, it should be remembered that
many older persons have low retirement incomes.

SOCIOECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS AND
RECREATION OCCASIONS

Activity on outdoor recreation occasions differs
among subgroups of the population 12 years and over
classified by all the characteristics considered here.
The largest variations are nearly always found within
the income distribution, followed in order by the
age-sex, place of residence, and major geographical
region distributions. Among the three activity
measures, expenditures show the most, and distance
traveled the least, variation across socioeconomic
characteristics,

The effect of income on the time-money-distance
activity measures used for these occasions is to a
large extent discussed in the next chapter which in-
cludes consideration of the effect of income on ad-
ditional activity measures as well as on the exposure
of individuals to selected family-owned recreation
equipment.

ALL OCCASIONS

For each person 12 years and over, nearly 15
days and $75 were spent away from home during the
year from June 1960-May 1961 on vacations, trips,
and outings which involved travel of nearly 1,300
miles per person (tables 5.41, 5.42, and 5.43). All
these measures increase with increases in family in-
come, The activity of those in the highest family in-
come class ($15,000 or more) exceeds that of the
lowest (less than $1,500) by factors of 24 for expend-
itures, 9 for distance, and 4 for time. By all these
Measures, both the highest and the lowest income
groups engage in roughly one-third of their activity
during the summer with the remaining two-thirds
spread quite evenly throughout the other seasons.
Those in the intermediate family income groups, on
the other hand, tend to allot about half of their ac-
tivities to the summer and to be relatively inactive
during the winter.

Per capita expenditures, distance traveled, and time
away from home for males slightly exceeds the ac-
tivity of females during the year as a whole and in each
season except the summer for which differences by
sex of roughly the same magnitude are reversed in
order. Per capita expenditures by males gradually
increases with age through the 45-64 year group and
declines sharply for those 65 years or more. High
summer and fall expenditures by persons in the 18-24
year age bracket interrupt what is otherwise the same
progression and sharp decline for females. The
school age groups—those 12-17 years and to some ex-
tent those 18-24 years—tend to concentrate larger
shares of their annual expenditures in the summer
vacation period, while the expenditures of older
persons, though high in the summer, are spread
somewhat more evenly throughout the year. Changes
across the age-sex distribution in per capita distance
traveled are similar to those found for expenditures,
but relatively smaller, in all age groups except for
even sharper declines in travel for those 65 years or
more. Per capita days away from home, on the other