Philadelphia Area National Parks = visitors, money and jobs for local economy

Date: February 28, 2012
Contact: Jane Cowley, 215-597-0060

Philadelphia - A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 5,443,740 visitors in 2010 spent $208,742,000 in Independence National Historical Park, Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, Valley Forge National Historical Park and in communities near the parks. That spending supported 3,078 jobs in the local area.

"The people and the business owners in communities near national parks have always known their economic value," National Park Service Northeast Regional Director Dennis R. Reidenbach said. "Independence National Historical Park, Valley Forge National Historical Park, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and the other national parks in this area are clean, green fuel for the engine that drives our local economy."

National parks in this area are driving visitation to - and economic growth for - the entire Greater Philadelphia Region, including the city and the countryside. The report shows the following information by park:

Valley Forge NHP: 1,617,511 visitors spent $58,195,000 supporting 880 jobs

Hopewell Furnace NHS: 55,750visitors spent $2,773,000 supporting 43 jobs

Independence NHP: 3,770,479visitors spent $147,774,000 supporting 2,155 jobs
(including Thaddeus Kosciuszko NM and Edgar Allan Poe NHS)

Most of the spending/jobs are related to lodging, food, and beverage service (52 percent) followed by other retail (29 percent), entertainment/amusements (10 percent), gas and local transportation (7 percent) and groceries (2 percent).

The figures are based on $12 billion of direct spending by 281 million visitors in 394 national parks and nearby communities 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.

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 the report visit https://www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/products.cfm#MGM and click on Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll, 2010.

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

For more information on how the NPS is working in Pennsylvania, go tohttps://www.nps.gov/pennsylvania