Report details national parks' boost to communities

SALT LAKE CITY — A new National Park Service report for 2011 shows that 2.3 million visitors to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument spent $238 million in nearby communities. This spending supported 2,819 jobs in the local area, the report said

The information on Glen Canyon and Rainbow Bridge is part of a peer-reviewed spending analysis of national park visitors across the country conducted by Michigan State University for the National Park Service.

For 2011, that report shows $13 billion of direct spending by 279 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. That visitor spending had a $30 billion impact on the entire U.S. economy and supported 252,000 jobs nationwide.

Most visitor spending supports jobs in lodging, food, and beverage service (63 percent); followed by recreation and entertainment (17 percent); other retail (11 percent); transportation and fuel (7 percent); and wholesale and manufacturing (2 percent).