Tourism to Lake Mead National Recreation Area Economic Impacts

The report shows $18.4 billion of direct spending by 331 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 318,000 jobs nationally; 271,544 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $ 34.9 billion.

According to the 2016 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.2 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.2 percent), gas and oil (11.7 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (9.7 percent), local transportation (7.4 percent), and camping fees (2.5 percent).

Report authors this year produced an interactive tool. Users can explore current year 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: go.nps.gov/vse.

The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state.

To learn more about national parks in Nevada and Arizona and how the National Park Service works with Nevada and Arizona communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/nevada or www.nps.gov/arizona.

Top 10:  Visitor spending in units of the National Park System (2016)

Blue Ridge Parkway: $979.3 million
Great Smoky Mountains National Park: $942.7 million
Grand Canyon National Park: $648.1 million*
Denali National Park and Preserve: $604.8 million
Grand Teton National Park: $597.2 million*
Yellowstone National Park: $524.3 million*
Yosemite National Park: $520.6 million*
Golden Gate National Recreation Area: $392.1 million
Lake Mead National Recreation Area: $312.6 million
Rocky Mountain National Park: $298.7 million*
*For these parks, results are based on a visitor survey at the designated park. For other parks, visitor characteristics and spending averages are adapted from national averages for each park type.
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