News Release

National park tourism in New Jersey creates nearly $326 million in economic benefit

Date: July 18, 2022
Contact: John Harlan Warren

PHILADELPHIA – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 5,561,119 visitors to national parks in New Jersey spent over $212 million in the state in 2021. That spending resulted in 2,997 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of $325.9 million.

The national park sites which are entirely or partially within New Jersey include: the Appalachian National Scenic Trail; Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area; Ellis Island (part of Statue of Liberty National Monument); Gateway National Recreation Area; Great Egg Harbor River; Lower Delaware National Wild and Scenic River; Morristown National Historical Park; Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park; Thomas Edison National Historical Park, and; Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail.

Economists at the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey conducted the peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis. The report shows that nationwide, $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 in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $42.5 billion.

As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $7 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector was had the second greatest effects, with $4.2 billion in economic output nationally.

Report authors also produced an interactive tool 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 New Jersey and how the National Park Service works with New Jersey communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/state/nj/index.htm.
 

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