Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (Arizona) continues to serve as an economic engine for the region.
As per a release, in 2021, Glen Canyon ranked 25 on the list of highest-visited sites out of the 423 National Park Service units nationwide, with 3.1 million visitors.
A 2022 National Park Service report revealed the guests made an estimated $332 million in local gateway regions around Glen Canyon NRA.
The expenditures supported the creation of 3,840 jobs as well as $139 million in labor income, $234 million in value-added, and $410 million in economic output in local gateway economies.
Glen Canyon NRA is a significant economic engine for the following counties and gateway communities, Utah, Kane (Big Water, Kanab), San Juan (Bluff, Blanding), Wayne (Hanksville), Garfield (Escalante, Ticaboo, Boulder); and Coconino County in Arizona (Page, Marble Canyon).
The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists from the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The report reveals $20.5 billion in direct spending from more than 297 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park.
The spending resulted in the creation of 322,600 jobs nationally; 269,900 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $42.5 billion.
In terms of the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $7 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurant sector had the second greatest effect, with $4.2 billion in economic output nationally.
The report authors also created an online tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value-added, and output effects by sector for national, state and local economies.
For more information, click here.