News Release

$792 Million in Local Economic Benefits

Date: May 23, 2019
Contact: Denise Germann, 307 739 3393

A new National Park Service report shows that visitors to Grand Teton National Park in 2018 spent $629 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 8,620 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $792 million.

“Grand Teton National Park is an iconic national park and hosts visitors from across the country and world,” said Acting Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service. Noojibail said, “We appreciate the support of all our park partners, neighbors and local communities that contribute to serving the visitor and creating a quality visitor experience at Grand Teton National Park.”

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Egan Cornachione of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. The report shows $20.2 billion of direct spending by more than 318 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 329,000 jobs nationally; 268,000 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $40.1 billion.

According to the 2018 report, most park visitor spending at Grand Teton National Park was for lodging/camping (38.3 percent) followed by food and beverages (17.4 percent), gas and oil (9.8 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (9.5 percent), and local transportation (6.0 percent).

Report authors also produce 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 National Park Service Social Science Program webpage at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

There are several sites affiliated or managed by the National Park Service in Wyoming, including Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area; Devils Tower National Monument; Fort Laramie National Historic Site; Fossil Butte National Monument; Grand Teton National Park; John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway; and Yellowstone National Park. Visit www.nps.gov/Wyoming to learn more about national parks in Wyoming and how the National Park Service works with local communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation. 

Top 10 Parks by Visitor Spending

Blue Ridge Parkway	Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Great Smoky Mountains National Park	Grand Canyon National Park
Grand Teton National Park	Denali National Park and Preserve
Yellowstone National Park	Yosemite National Park
Cape Cod National Seashore	Glen Canyon National Recreation Area