Great Allegheny Passage proves to be 'economic highway'

Tourism along the 150-mile Great Allegheny Passage drove over $121 million in economic impact in 2019, according to a year-long analysis by Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Fourth Economy.

To determine the extent of tourism-related spending and evaluate how the trail and its visitors are viewed, Fourth Economy conducted 64 interviews with local stakeholders and surveyed 125 owners of trail-facing businesses, 784 GAP users and 163 residents of trail towns — typically, small communities once dependent on coal, coke, paper, lumber and manufacturing. Its team estimated that GAP tourism generated over $74 million in direct spending, nearly $22 in indirect spending and almost $25 million in induced spending during 2019. The spending yielded an estimated $19 million in tax revenue in 2019, with $8.7 million in tax revenue going back to state, county and local governments, and it supported nearly 1,400 jobs.