Some Travel, Entertainment, Recreation Related Industries Back From Pandemic Downturn by 2022

Las Vegas Tribune News
Apr 23
4 min read

April 23, 2025

Written by:

Maria Villarreal, Letha Rubin, Laura Tilley and Sandra Cooke-Hull

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic U.S. offices and entertainment venues shuttered, dealing a financial blow to travel and many other recreation-related industries.

Unlike many other recreation sectors, hunting and fishing license fee collections actually grew from 2020 to 2024.

As people started returning to work and recreation, many of these industries began to recover, with some reaching pre-pandemic levels as early as 2022, two years after the pandemic struck the United States.

In this article, we use U.S. Census Bureau employment and revenue data available to show how quickly selected recreation, travel, entertainment and other related industries rebounded from the pandemic.

Parks and Recreation, Hunting and Fishing

The Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll (ASPEP) shows that the number of full- and part-time people employed by state and local governments at parks and recreational facilities (golf courses, camping grounds, public pools, marinas, etc.) initially declined from 2020 to 2021, but grew steadily the next three years (Table 1).

The ASPEP publishes annual public sector employment estimates for the pay period that includes March 12. These estimates give us timely pre-pandemic numbers, considering this reporting period was just days before the start of pandemic shutdowns.

State and local governments employed 365,895 parks and recreation workers in 2021, down 13.9% from 2020.

Most of the job loss was among part-time employees; about 22.9% of part-time employees were let go or left compared to 3.2% of full-time employees.

As residents increasingly engaged in outdoor activities, parks and recreation-related employment grew by 10.9% to 405,839 in 2022 and by 4.4% to 423,712 in 2023.

In the latest release of ASPEP data, parks and recreation employment grew by 5.6% to 447,335 employees in 2024, surpassing its pre-pandemic level.

Unlike many other recreation sectors, hunting and fishing license fee collections actually grew from 2020 to 2024. According to the Census Bureau’s Annual Survey of State Tax Collections, these totaled $1.8 billion in 2020, up 7.8% from 2019.

As other activities reopened, fee collections still grew but at a slower pace: up 3.4% in 2021, 0.1% in 2022, 1.4% in 2023 and 0.7% to $1.9 billion in 2024.

Travel and Transportation

Air and Sea Travel

Revenue of Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation dropped 60.0% from $206.8 billion in 2019 to $82.8 billion in 2020 (Table 2), according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 Service Annual Survey (SAS) – which provides estimated revenues for employer firms across services.

The industry (which covers transportation of passengers and/or cargo over regular routes and on regular schedules) started to recover in 2021, with revenue climbing to $133.5 billion. It did not rebound to 2019 levels until 2022.

While the Deep Sea Passenger Transportation industry began to recover in 2022, it was still behind 2019 pre-pandemic levels (Table 2). This industry provides deep sea transportation of passengers to and from foreign ports.

According to the SAS, the revenue of this industry dropped 64.2% from $26.5 billion in 2019 to $9.5 billion in 2020. It continued to fall, dropping 42.3% to $5.5 billion in 2021.

In 2022, it soared 299.7% to $21.9 billion, a significant jump but still 17.4% lower than 2019 revenue levels ($26.5 billion). That year (2022), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its pandemic cruise ship restrictions, allowing individual cruise lines to monitor their own COVID-19 protocols. But most major cruise lines did not drop testing requirements until fall 2022.

Taxi, Charter Bus, and Limousine Services

In 2019, the Taxi Service industry thrived with revenues of $17.3 billion, according to the SAS (Table 3). By the end of 2020, however, revenues had dropped 39.8% to $10.4 billion. The taxi service industry eventually surpassed its 2019 revenue by 19.9% to $20.7 billion in 2022.

The Charter Bus Industry and Limousine Services followed similar year-to-year revenue trajectories (Table 3).

In 2019, the charter bus industry had annual revenues of $4.1 billon. Revenues dropped 52.8% in 2020 to $1.9 billion but increased in 2021 and returned to pre-pandemic levels ($4.2 billion) in 2022.

Limousine Services had $4.5 billion in revenue in 2019, which fell 49.9% to about $2.3 billion in 2020. Revenues increased 29.6% in 2021, followed by another 61.6% in 2022.

Entertainment

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports and Similar Events

During the COVID pandemic, many live entertainment events were cancelled or postponed for over a year. According to Oxford Economics, a leading global economic advisory firm, concerts and other live entertainment significantly drive economic activity across the United States, also contributing to off-site spending in places like local bars, restaurants, transportation, lodging, parking and retail.

The New York Times reported that in 2020, the sports industry and music festivals faced one of their largest economic challenges in a decade.

According to the SAS, the Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events industry experienced a 46.5% decrease in revenue from $34.8 billion in 2019 to $18.6 billion in 2020 (Table 4).

But from 2021 to 2022, revenue went up 58.3% from $26.3 billion to $41.6 billion, surpassing 2019 levels.

The Amusement and Theme Parks industry also bounced back (Table 4).

This industry’s revenue fell 63.0% from $20.1 billion in 2019 to $7.4 billion in 2020. In 2021, revenues rose 139.2% to $17.8 billion and in 2022 by 44.9% to $25.8 billion, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

Maria Villarreal is a survey statistician in the Census Bureau’s Accommodations, Entertainment, and Consumer Services Branch of the Economy-Wide Statistics Division.

Letha Rubin is a supervisory survey statistician in the Census Bureau’s Healthcare and Educational Services Branch of the Economy-Wide Statistics Division.

Laura Tilley is a survey statistician in the Census Bureau’s Information and Business Services Branch of the Economy-Wide Statistics Division.

Sandra Cooke-Hull is an economist in the Census Bureau’s Public Sector Programs Office of the Economy-Wide Statistics Division.