GAMEBIRD SHOOTING IN EXMOOR NATIONAL PARK
GameBird Shooting Study 2006 PDF Version 660 KB
GameBird Shooting Study 2006 Word Version 3.18 MB
GameBird Shooting Guidelines PDF Version 3.8 MB
The results of a new report entitled The Role of Game Shooting in Exmoor were published in October 2006. The study was commissioned by Exmoor National Park Authority with funding also provided by the South West of England Regional Development Agency, the Countryside Agency, Somerset and Devon county councils and West Somerset and North Devon district councils and supported by the Greater Exmoor Shoots Association (GESA).
The report, which was commissioned to provide evidence of the contribution that game shooting makes to the economy of Exmoor National Park and surrounding areas, reveals that game shooting on Exmoor contributes £18 million to the wider UK economy and that 1,600 full and part-time jobs in the Greater Exmoor area are supported by the provision of shooting activities (260 full-time equivalent - paid and unpaid).
Shoots are growing in popularity locally and nationally. The study indicates that around 1,400 individuals participated in shoots in and around Exmoor. The number of visitor nights generated by shooting has important implications for the amount of money spent in the local area with 2,800 visitor nights being generated on the shooting providers’ sites with a further 14,000 in the local area.
The study estimates that game shooting participants on Exmoor spent a total of £22 million on game shooting goods and services in 2004 of which £9.6 million was spent on shooting sites and £4 million was retained in the Exmoor area. As well as sustaining year round employment in managing the shoots, this level of expenditure is a significant part of the overall tourism spent in the area and helps sustain hotels, guest houses and pubs at a time of year when they would otherwise have few visitors.