News Release
Date: July 18, 2022
Contact: John Harlan Warren
PHILADELPHIA – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 11,952,678 visitors to national parks in New York spent nearly $452 million in the state in 2021. That spending resulted in 4,677 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of $600.2 million.
The national park sites which are entirely or partially within New York include: African Burial Ground National Monument; the Appalachian National Scenic Trail; Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail; Castle Clinton National Monument; Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site; Federal Hall National Memorial; Fire Island National Seashore; Fort Stanwix National Monument; Gateway National Recreation Area; General Grant National Memorial; Governors Island National Monument; Hamilton Grange National Memorial; Harriet Tubman National Historical Park; Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site; Martin Van Buren National Historic Site; Sagamore Hill National Historic Site; Saratoga National Historical Park; Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island; Stonewall National Monument; Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site; Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site; Thomas Cole National Historic Site; Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River; Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site; Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail, and; Women’s Rights National Historical Park.
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 York and how the National Park Service works with New York communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/state/ny/index.htm.
-NPS-
Last updated: July 18, 2022