National Park tourism in Texas benefits the economy

Staff Report

Over 5 million visitors at national parks in Texas spent $370,500,000 last year – this resulted in 5,412 jobs which had a cumulative benefit to the state economy of $578,500,000. 

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the National Park Service (NPS) 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.