Interior Department News Release:
WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service released a new report that finds visitor spending in communities near national parks in 2023 resulted in a record high $55.6 billion benefit to the nation’s economy and supported 415,400 jobs.
“The Biden-Harris administration has made historic bipartisan investments to restore and enhance national parks across our nation,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “This report illustrates the significant economic benefits national parks provide to nearby communities and the U.S. economy, and the value of our work to safeguard these public lands in the wake of the climate crisis, upgrade visitor experiences and invest in park infrastructure and staff.”
“I’m so proud that our parks and the stories we tell make a lasting impact on more than 300 million visitors a year,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “And I’m just as proud to see those visitors making positive impacts of their own, by supporting local economies and jobs in every state in the country.”
The National Park Service report, 2023 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, finds that 325.5 million visitors spent $26.4 billion in communities near national parks. This spending supported 415,400 jobs, provided $19.4 billion in labor income, and $55.6 in economic output to the U.S. economy. The lodging sector had the highest direct contributions with $9.9 billion in economic output and 89,200 jobs. Restaurants received the next greatest direct contributions with $5.2 billion in economic output and 68,600 jobs.
The latest report is informed by improved socioeconomic survey data enhancing the accuracy of spending estimates and helps the National Park Service learn more about park visitors.
Results from the visitor spending effects report series are available online via an interactive tool. Users can view year-by-year trend data and explore current year visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value-added, and economic output effects by sector for national, state and local economies.
The annual peer-reviewed economics report was prepared by economists from the National Park Service. Learn more about how NPS-managed lands and programs provide economic benefits at www.nps.gov.
The Forest Service publishes similar National Forest “at a glance” reports here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/emc/economics/at-a-glance/index.shtml.
Whether they are useful or interesting is another matter…
Thanks, Chelsea! I think the NPS is using the national summaries as a form of marketing the wonderfulness of National Parks. It would be interesting to look on the internet to see how many times and by whom they are used.
Perhaps the FS and BLM are not so interested in tooting their own horns, for whatever reason.