After similar research conducted in Austria and the U.K., the U.S. should be able to measure the contribution of outdoor recreation to the U.S. economy, which would be made part of the country's GDP. The House of the U.S. Congress has unanimously passed a vote for the Outdoor Recreation Act, directing the Department of Commerce to launch the study. The bill had already been passed by a committee of the U.S. Senate. It will now face the full Senate, which will have to approve it and send it to President Obama for his signature. The Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) of the U.S. has been lobbying for the bill, roughly estimating that the outdoor recreation sector generates annual revenues of $646 billion and gives jobs to 6.1 million people in the U.S.

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