The recreation and tourism industry surrounding Mount Rainier National Park has a big act to follow this year.
The National Park Service reports that about 1.4 million visitors flocked to the mountain during 2016 and spent $50.7 million in communities surrounding the park with a net impact to the economy of approximately $64.8 million. The spending supported approximately 650 jobs in the local area, not including the 100-plus permanent and 175 seasonal staff members working directly for the park and another 450 or so commercial concessions service employees working in or near the park in lodging, dining, mountaineer-led climbing and other visitor services.
Visits for the National Park Service Centennial in 2016 reached levels not seen in the park since the 1990s.
“Mount Rainier continues to provide a world-class travel destination for visitors from around the globe, as well as residents of the Pacific Northwest,” said Tracy Swartout, the park’s deputy superintendent.
And while the public’s destinations “may be the national parks, millions of visitors also connect with our local communities, providing a valuable economic investment in the area,” Swartout noted.
National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, officials said.
The 2016 visitor statistics for Mount Rainier National Park, which traditionally draws more than 1 million visits, are part of a peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service.
Their report shows $18.4 billion of direct spending by 331 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. The spending supported 318,000 jobs nationally -- 271,544 of them in gateway communities like those near Mount Rainier. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $34.9 billion.
Cullinane and Koontz reported most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.2 percent) followed by food and beverages (27.2 percent), gas and oil (11.7 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent), souvenirs and other expenses (9.7 percent), local transportation (7.4 percent), and camping fees (2.5 percent).
At go.nps.gov/vse, statistics on current-year visitor spending by park visitors is available.
More information about national parks in Washington and their efforts communities to conserve the environment and and provide outdoor recreation is at www.nps.gov/washington-nps.
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