2012 visitors to Grand Canyon spent $454 million in communities

A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that over 4.4 million visitors to Grand Canyon National Park in 2012 spent $454 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 6,010 jobs in the local area.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis shows $14.7 billion of direct spending by 283 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 243,000 jobs nationally, with 201,000 jobs found in these gateway communities and had a cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy of $26.75 billion.

According to the report, most visitor spending supports jobs in restaurants, grocery and convenience stores (39 percent), hotels, motels, and B&Bs (27 percent), and other amusement and recreation (20 percent).