A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that
almost 4.4 million visitors spent more than $415 million in Grand Canyon
National Park and in gateway regions around the park in 2010. In addition,
visitor spending supported 6,167 jobs in the local area. The four
economic/job sectors most impacted by this visitor spending were lodging,
restaurants, retail trade, and entertainment/amusement.
“Grand Canyon National Park is an international icon, attracting visitors
from around the world. It’s no surprise that it has a substantial impact
on the local economy,” said Grand Canyon Superintendent Dave Uberuaga.
“The opportunity to engage in a wide array of popular recreational
activities in one of the world’s premier geologic landscapes is a
tremendous draw for tourism dollars.”
These figures are based on $12.1 billion of direct spending by 281 million
visitors in and around 394 national park units around the country and are
included in an annual, peer-reviewed, visitor spending analysis conducted
by Dr. Daniel Stynes of Michigan State University for the National Park
Service. According to the analysis, the 22 national park units in Arizona
alone attracted more than 10.5 million visitors who spent approximately
$671 million and supported 9,661 jobs in the state.
Across the U.S., local visitor spending added a total of $31 billion to the
national economy and supported more than 258,000 jobs, an increase of $689
million and 11,500 jobs over 2009.
To download a copy of Dr. Stynes’ report, please go to
http://www.nature.nps.gov/
Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and
Payroll, 2010. The report also includes information for visitor spending
at individual national parks and by state.
For more on how the NPS is working within Arizona, go to
www.nps.gov/arizona.