Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park spent an estimated $710 million in 2021 in nearby gateway communities in northern Arizona.
That’s according to a spending analysis released Monday by the National Park Service.
It also showed park visitation by 4.5 million people that year supported nearly 9,400 jobs in the local area.
The peer-reviewed study was conducted by Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey economists.
It also reveals that more than 10.5 million people visited Arizona’s two dozen national parks including Canyon de Chelly, Wupatki National Monument, Walnut Canyon National Monument and others in 2021 and spent $1.25 billion.
Throughout the U.S. it found national parks had an overall $42.5 billion benefit to the U.S. economy from direct spending by 297 million visitors.
A majority of the 322,000 jobs created by parks nationwide were in communities within 60 miles of the park.