Officials at Fort Larned National Historic Site west of Larned announced Tuesday a new National Park Service report that shows 29,423 visitors spent $1,598,000 in area communities and at Fort Larned in 2010. This spending supported 28 jobs in the local area.
The people and the business owners in communities near national parks have always known their economic value. “Fort Larned National Historic Site, Kansas’s first National Park, is happy to be part of the attractions that brings visitors and tourism dollars to Kansas and particularly the Larned area,” said Superintendent Kevin McMurry.
Most of the spending/jobs are related to lodging, food, and beverage service (52 percent) followed by other retail (29 percent), entertainment/amusements (10 percent), gas and local transportation (7 percent) and groceries (2 percent).
The figures are based on $12 billion of direct spending by 281 million visitors in 394 national parks and nearby communities and are included in an annual, peer-reviewed, visitor spending analysis conducted by Dr. Daniel Stynes of Michigan State University for the National Park Service.
Across the U.S, local visitor spending added a total of $31 billion to the national economy and supported more than 258,000 jobs, an increase of $689 million and 11,500 jobs over 2009.
To download the report visit www.nature.nps.gov/socialscience/products.cfm#MGM and click on Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll, 2010.
The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state. For more information on how the NPS is working in Kansas, go to www.nps.gov/kansas.