Herbert Hoover National Historic Site Equals Visitors, Money, and Jobs for the Local Economy

Date: February 28, 2012
Contact: Pete Swisher, [phone]

WEST BRANCH, IOWA- A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 142,512 visitors in 2010 spent more than $7 million in Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and in communities near the park. That spending supported 119 jobs in the local area. "The people and the business owners in communities near national parks have always known their economic value," park Superintendent Pete Swisher said. "Herbert Hoover National Historic Site is clean, green fuel for the engine that drives our local economy."

Most of the spending and jobs are related to lodging, food, and beverage service (52 percent), followed by other retail (29 percent), entertainment and 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 https://www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/products.cfm#MGM and select 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 Iowa, go to https://www.nps.gov/iowa.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum are in West Branch, Iowa at exit 254 off I-80. Both are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. For more information go online at www.nps.gov/heho or call [phone].