Tourism to Chattahoochee River NRA contributes over $176 million to local economy

Report shows visitor spending supports 2,372 jobs in nearby communities

Sandy Springs (August 21, 2023) - A new National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 3,537,848 visitors to Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area in 2022 spent $176,660,000 in communities near the park. That spending supported 2,372 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the  local economy of $259,566,000.

“Since 1916, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of our national parks. With the help of volunteers and partners, we safeguard these special places and share their stories with more than 300 million visitors every year. The impact of tourism to national parks is undeniable: bringing jobs and revenue to communities in every state in the country and making national parks an essential driver to the national economy,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.

“Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area provides great opportunities for outdoor recreation in the Atlanta region and attracts many out-of-town visitors,” said Superintendent Ann Honious. “We recognize that this tourism is a critical driver to the local economy, creating an over $259 million in cumulative benefit. This results in 2,372 jobs.”

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists at the National Park Service. The report shows $23.9 billion of direct spending by nearly 312 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 378,400 jobs nationally; 314,600 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $50.3 billion.

As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $9 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurants sector was had the second greatest effects, with $4.6 billion in economic output nationally.

Report authors also produce 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: Visitor Spending Effects - Economic Contributions of National Park Visitor Spending - Social Science (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).