National park tourism in New Mexico creates $195 million in economic benefit 

Category: Non-Local News Releases Non-Local News Releases
Published: 28 June 2022 28 June 2022

New report shows visitor spending supports 2,076 jobs in New Mexico

LAKEWOOD, Colo. – A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 2,449,307 visitors to national parks in New Mexico spent $156,200,000 in the state in 2021. That spending resulted in 2,076 jobs and had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of $195,700,000. 

The national parks in New Mexico are:  

  • Aztec Ruins National Monument 
  • Bandelier National Monument  
  • Capulin Volcano National Monument 
  • Carlsbad Caverns National Park 
  • Chaco Culture National Historical Park  
  • El Camino Real de Tierra
  • Adentro National Historic Park 
  • El Malpais National Monument 
  • El Morro National Monument 
  • Fort Union National Monument 
  • Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument 
  • Manhattan Project National Historical Park 
  • Old Spanish National Historical Trail 
  • Pecos National Historical Park 
  • Petroglyph National Monument 
  • Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument 
  • Santa Fe National Historic Trail 
  • Valles Caldera National Preserve 
  • White Sands National Park       

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. The report shows $20.5 billion of direct spending by more than 297 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 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.  

As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $7 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector was had the second greatest effects, with $4.2 billion in economic output nationally. 

Report authors also produced an interactive tool that enables users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program webpage: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm    

To learn more about national parks in New Mexico and how the National Park Service works with New Mexico communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/newmexico.  

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