Off highway vehicle (OHV) recreation is big business in Idaho. In 2012, Idaho OHV enthusiasts spent $434 million in Idaho—$186 million in trip expenditures and $248 million in capital expenditures. They took close to 1 million OHV trips in Idaho that year. On average, each Idaho OHV household took 12 OHV-related trips, with a party size of just over four people. A typical OHV trip took close to three days. The most frequently visited counties in Idaho were Valley, Owyhee, and Boise. The least-visited counties were Jerome, Lincoln, Oneida, and Washington. Of the 1 million trips taken by OHV enthusiasts, over half were taken outside the home county.

Owyhee County received the most out-of-county visitation, with 51,000 trips per year.
Of the $186 million in total trip expenditures, $84 million was spent on trips in the home county, and $102 million was spent on out-of-county trips. Of the total trip expenditures for out-of-county trips, close to 76% were made within the home county and the remaining 24% were made in the destination county. Thus, the destination counties for OHV recreation failed to capture most of the trip expenditures. Ada, Kootenai, Bonneville, Bannock, Twin Falls, and Canyon counties captured over half of Idaho’s $250 million in OHV capital expenditures.

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