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The Washington & Old Dominion Trail: An Assessment of User Demographics, Preferences, and Economics

Annually, about 1.7 million adults use the Washington and Old Dominion Trail, a 45-mile long transportation and recreation corridor running west from Arlington, VA to Purcellville, VA, and spend $12 million/year related to their trail use, of which about $7 million is spent directly in the local economy. Local tail users spend about $5.3 million directly related to their use of the trail and nonlocal visitors spend about $74 per person to visit, of which $15 per person is spent in the northern Virginia economy directly related to trail use.

  • This report looks at trail use; user demographics and preferences; economic benefits to users, and economic impacts to the local communities of the Washington and Old Dominion Trail (W&OD), a 45-mile long transportation and recreation corridor running west from Arlington, VA to Purcellville, VA.
  • Annually, about 1.7 million adult W&OD users spent a total of about $12 million related to their recreational trail use. Of that amount, about $7 million was spent directly in the northern Virginia economy by both locals and non-locals. Local tail users accounted for about 1.6 million visits and about $5.3 million of spending directly related to use of the trail.
  • Nonlocal visitors spent about $199 per group trip and $74 per person to visit. Of this amount, $41.50 per group and $15 per person was spent in the northern Virginia economy directly related to trail use. Overall, the estimated $1.4 million in nonlocal spending generated about $1.8 million in local economic impacts.