News Release

Tourism to Apostle Islands National Lakeshore creates $45.2 million in economic benefits

Date: September 15, 2023
Contact: Julie Van Stappen, 715-209-2804

Bayfield, WI – According to the 2022 National Park Service report on Visitor Spending Effects, 255,000 park visitors spent an estimated $45.2 million in local gateway regions while visiting Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. These expenditures supported a total of 623 jobs, $17.5 million in labor income, $30 million in value added, and $56.7 million in economic output in local gateway economies surrounding Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Lodging and dining accounted for nearly half of visitor spending.

“Apostle Islands National Lakeshore attracts visitors from across the country and around the world with its exceptional collection of lighthouses and outstanding recreational opportunities,” said superintendent Lynne Dominy. “We work closely with all of our surrounding communities to assure that visitors to this area have the safest and highest quality experiences possible.”

At the state level, 672,000 park visitors spent an estimated $65.8 million in local gateway regions while visiting National Park Service lands in Wisconsin, which includes Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, Ice Age and North Country Scenic Trails. These expenditures supported a total of 952 jobs, $31.7 million in labor income, $51.7 million in value added, and $94.7 million in economic output in the Wisconsin economy.

At the national level, 312 million park visitors spent an estimated $23.9 billion in local gateway regions while visiting National Park Service lands across the country. These expenditures supported a total of 378,000 jobs, $17.5 billion in labor income, $29.0 billion in value added, and $50.3 billion in economic output in the national economy.

According to the 2022 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging and dining at 24% and 23% respectively, followed by gas at 12%, local transportation, 11%, souvenirs and other expenses, 10%, groceries, 10%; recreation, 6%, and camping, 4%.

Results from the Visitor Spending Effects report series are available online via an interactive tool. Users can view year-by-year trend data and explore current year visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value-added, and economic output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. The interactive tool is available on the Visitor Spending Effects webpage.

For more information about Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, please visit our website at www.nps.gov/apis or call [phone]. Join Apostle Island’s online conversations on Facebook: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and YouTube: ApostleIslandsNPS.

www.nps.gov 

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 425 national park service units and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.