News Release

Tourism to Badlands National Park and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site contributes to local economies

Date: August 23, 2023
Contact: Eric Veach, 605-433-5280

INTERIOR, SOUTH DAKOTA – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that visitors in 2022 to Badlands National Park and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site spent $81,870,000 in communities near the parks. That spending supported 1,111 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $106,915,000. 

“Since 1916, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of our national parks. With the help of volunteers and partners, we safeguard these special places and share their stories with more than 300 million visitors every year. The impact of tourism to national parks is undeniable: bringing jobs and revenue to communities in every state in the country and making national parks an essential driver to the national economy,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.   

“People come to Badlands National Park to experience a rich diversity of natural and cultural resources that are like nowhere else on earth. Minuteman Missile interprets the Cold War era and uniquely immerses visitors into that time in our nation’s history,” said Superintendent Eric Veach. “We recognize that this tourism is a critical driver to the local economy, bringing 1,111 jobs and $106,915,000 in revenue to communities within 60 miles of the park.” 

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the NPS. The report shows $23.9 billion of direct spending by nearly 312 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 378,400 jobs nationally; 314,600 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $50.3 billion.  

As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $9 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector had the second greatest effects, with $4.6 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: Visitor Spending Effects - Economic Contributions of National Park Visitor Spending - Social Science (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).            

www.nps.gov 

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for more than 400 parks in the National Park System 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, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.