National parks visitors generate $121M in economic benefits

A new National Park Service report for 2011 shows that the 1,573,393 visitors to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks spent $121,892,000 in communities surrounding the park. This spending supported 1,629 jobs in the local area.

The information on the local parks is part of a peer-reviewed spending analysis of national park visitors across the country conducted by Michigan State University for the National Park Service.

For 2011, that report shows $13 billion of direct spending by 279 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. That visitor spending had a $30 billion impact on the entire U.S. economy and supported 252,000 jobs nationwide. Most visitor spending supports jobs in lodging, food, and beverage service (63 percent), followed by recreation and entertainment (17 percent), other retail (11 percent), transportation and fuel (7 percent), and wholesale and manufacturing (2 percent).