A recent National Park Service (NPS) report shows that visitors have spent $16.9 billion at NPS lands in 2015.
The report shows the $16.9 billion of direct spending by 307.2 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. According to the 2015 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.1 percent) followed by food and beverages (20.2 percent), gas and oil (11.8 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent) and souvenirs and other expenses (9.8 percent). This spending supported 295,000 jobs nationally; 252,000 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $32 billion.
The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service.
The report shows that 16,090,450 visitors to ten National Park Service sites in New York Harbor in 2015 spent $559,169,600 in communities near the park. That spending supported 6,890 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $714,149,200.
The Women’s Rights National Historical Park reported 38,140 visitors in 2015, which spent $2.7 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 37 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.5 million.
Four National Historic Sites, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site, Home of FDR, Martin Van Buren National Historic Site, and Vanderbilt Mansion had an average of 7% increase in visitations from 2014, with the largest increase taking place at the Vanderbilt Mansion. 695,704 visitors to the four national park sites in the Hudson River Valley spent $ 36.9 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 558 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $ 39.8 million.
To view the full report, click here.
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