News Release

Visitor spending to Golden Gate NRA, Muir Woods NM and Fort Point NHS contributed $1 billion to local economy in 2021

Crissy Field’s East Beach, which is just east of Fort Point NHS, offers a picturesque view of the Marin Headlands and the bay.

NPS photo

News Release Date: June 23, 2022 SAN FRANCISCO—In 2021, the 15.3 million park visitors to Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods National Monument and Fort Point National Historic Site spent around $1 billion in gateway communities which supported 9,583 local jobs, according to a recent National Park Service report.  

As the conditions of the pandemic changed and parks throughout the region were able to reopen more widely, visitation increased as compared to the year before. Golden Gate NRA, one of the most-visited units of the National Park System, saw more than 13.7 million visitors, who spent more than $863 million in nearby communities, supporting 8,180 jobs.  

The more than 947,000 visitors to Fort Point National Historic Site, a Civil War era fortress under the Golden Gate Bridge, spent $62 million in local communities and supported 661 jobs. In Marin County, the primeval redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument saw more than 658,000 visitors, who spent $80 million in local communities to contribute 742 jobs.  

“We were delighted to welcome back many people who discovered parks for the first time at the start of the pandemic,” said Charles Strickfaden, Chief of Communications. “Despite the challenging circumstances, our staff, partners, concessionaires and leaseholders all worked together last year to provide a memorable national park experience to our visitors.”   

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. The report shows $20.5 billion of direct spending by more than 297 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 322,600 jobs nationally; 269,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $42.5 billion.

The report’s authors have 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: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.  

To learn more about national parks in California and how the National Park Service works with communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to https://www.nps.gov/state/ca/index.htm.