Denver - A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 2,449,307 visitors to national parks in New Mexico spent $156 million in the state in 2021. That spending resulted in 2,080 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of $196 million.
38,080 people visited Salinas Pueblo Missions NM last year and spent $2.5 million in the local communities, which is a 56% increase from 2020. That spending resulted in 35 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.3 million, which is a 57% increase from 2020.
The national parks in New Mexico are: Aztec Ruins NM, Bandelier NM, Capulin Volcano NM, Carlsbad Caverns NP, Chaco Culture NHP, El Malpais NM, El Morro NM, Fort Union NM, Gila Cliff Dwellings NM, Manhattan Project NHP, Pecos NHP, Petroglyph NM, Salinas Pueblo Missions NM, Valles Caldera NPRES, White Sands NP.
The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. The report shows $20.5 billion of direct spending by more than 297 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 322,600 jobs nationally; 269,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $42.5 billion.
As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $7 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector was had the second greatest effects, with $4.2 billion in economic output nationally.
Report authors 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: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm
To learn more about national parks in state name and how the National Park Service works with New Mexico communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/NewMexico.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
