News Release

National Park Tourism in Kansas Creates $4.6 Million in Economic Benefit

Date: February 27, 2013

Contact: Dave Schafer
Phone number: [phone]

Topeka, KS - A new National Park Service (NPS) report for 2011 shows that the 101,752 visitors to national parks in Kansas spent $4.6 million in communities surrounding those parks. This spending supported 80 jobs across the state.

"Kansas is home to world class National Park Service preserves and historic sites. Last year, over 100,000 people traveled to Kansas to find these hidden gems. Once there, they explored the surrounding areas, taking advantage of the hospitality that the state is so famous for," said Michael Reynolds, National Park Service Midwest Regional Director.

"Think about what you could do in one weekend in Kansas. Starting out at Fort Scott National Historic Site, your family could visit a beautifully preserved border fort that demarked the American frontier. A quick trek over to Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve offers a chance to see buffalo thriving in a natural landscape in the Flint Hills. Heading west, a visitor can follow the Santa Fe Trail out to Fort Larned National Historic Site - the historic hub for military action on the Great Plains. Heading north, Nicodemus National Historic Site offers a taste of homestead life on the plains for African Americans following the Civil War. Finally, head back to Topeka and get a firsthand view of where racial segregation crumbled at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. We have some pretty amazing parks in Kansas."

To download the report - which provides park-by-park information - visit https://www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/products.cfm#MGM and click on Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll, 2011.

The information is part of a peer-reviewed spending analysis of national park visitors across the country conducted by Michigan State University for the National Park Service. For 2011, that report shows $13 billion of direct spending by 279 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. That visitor spending had a $30 billion impact on the entire U.S. economy and supported 252,000 jobs nationwide.

Most visitor spending supports jobs in lodging, food, and beverage service (63 percent) followed by recreation and entertainment (17 percent), other retail (11percent), transportation and fuel (7 percent) and wholesale and manufacturing (2 percent.)

To learn more about national parks in Kansas and how the National Park Service works with communities to preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide local recreation opportunities, go to www.nps.gov/Kansas.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site tells the story of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation in public schools. The site is located at 1515 SE Monroe Street in Topeka, Kansas, and is open free of charge from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, with the exceptions of Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1. For more information call [phone] or visit www.nps.gov/brvb and www.facebook.com/brownvboardnps.