A new National Park Service (NPS) report says that 55,186 visitors to Sagamore Hill in 2017 spent $3,155,200 in communities near the park.
That spending supported 37 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $4,255,300, according to the study.
The analysis was conducted by Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service.
According to the report, there was $18.2 billion of direct spending by more than 330 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 306,000 jobs nationally; 255,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $35.8 billion.
The lodging sector received the highest direct contributions, according to the report, with $5.5 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 49,000 jobs. The restaurants sector received the next greatest direct contributions with $3.7 billion in economic output to local gateway economies and 60,500 jobs.
According to the report, most park visitor spending was for lodging/camping (32.9 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.5 percent), gas and oil (12.1 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (10.1 percent), admissions and fees (10.0 percent), and local transportation (7.5 percent).
The report authors have also produced an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage.
Photo of Sagamore Hill provided.
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