The National Park Service Visitation Benefits Local Economy

News Release Date: March 2, 2012

Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historic Site = visitors, money and jobs for local economy

Boston, MA - A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 3.2 million visitors in 2010 spent $93,586,000 in Boston National Historical Park, Boston African American National Historic Site, and in communities near the parks. That spending supported 1,212 jobs in the local area.

"The people and the business owners in communities near national parks have always known their economic value," Boston National Historical Park and Boston African American National Historic Site superintendent Cassius Cash said. "Boston's National Parks are clean, green fuel for the engine that drives our local economy."

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 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 Massachusetts, go to Massachusetts (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)