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Alaska's National Parks Bring in $1.1 Billion to the State

National Park Service

The National Park Service released a new report showing that 2.5 million visitors came to national parks in Alaska in 2013.  Those millions of visitors brought with them money that supports some communities. 

Alaska national parks brought in $1.1 billion in economic support to communities across the state.  These parks employ 17,000 workers directly and thousands more indirectly.  The three most visited parks in the state last year were Klondike Gold Rush at 928,000 visitors, Denali at 530,000 visitors and Glacier Bay at 500,000 visitors.

Spokesperson for the National Park Service John Quinley says the money that is brought in to these parks is not solely going to the parks.

“This is visitor spending of all kinds. People flying out to parks, what they spend on hotels, guided fishing trips, bus transportation, sort of runs the whole gambit of visitors expenses while their doing an Alaska national park visit.”

NPS has been conducting Visitor Services Project surveys since 1988.  These surveys create an equation using several factors including the amount of time stayed, where the visitors stayed and what they spent their money on.  The equation then calculates the amount of money that was brought into the community.

According to the report released by the National Park Service, admission to parks consisted of only 10 percent of visitor spending.  Gas and oil was 12 percent, restaurants and bars at 20 percent and hotels consist of 30 percent.

Quinley says the parks have seen an increase over the years in attendance in Alaska.  He says that’s partly because of the sheer amount of national parks in the state and the fact that it’s getting easier to get to them. 

“Katmai National Park had about 29,000 visitors last year, and is a significant economic boost to that region with the concessioners and air traffic and people doing other things. A lot of times a national park will attract people to an area and they will do other things than work at a national park. And I think Katmai is one of those places where people do things in King Salmon and fishing trips outside the park and that sort of thing.”

Alaska’s national parks rank 26th in total recreational visits and second only to California in visitor spending and jobs.