Program linked to increase in visitors

A recently released National Park Service report shows visitation to Hot Springs National Park increased in 2013 compared to 2012, and the park's superintendent says that is evidence of the success of the leasing program on Bathhouse Row.

"That's why I've spent all of my energy on making sure that the buildings were reopened, but reopened with solid business models that would be sustainable," Superintendent Josie Fernandez said Friday.

The report, "2013 National Park Visitor Spending Effects: Economic Contributions to Local Communities, States and the Nation," showed a total of 1,325,719 recreation visits to the national park in 2013, and $80 million in total visitor spending.

That's in comparison to the 2012 report, which showed a total of 1,302,505 recreation visits and $77 million in total visitor spending.

"Of course, the number that they're talking about is the impact on the community," Fernandez said.

"One indicator to me that is obvious is, since the last year, the Superior Bath House brewery has opened," and has done "terrifically well."

The Superior Bathhouse Brewery & Distillery and the Quapaw Baths & Spa have been occupied under the park's leasing program. The Park Service has opened a Cultural Center in the Ozark Bath House with volunteers from the Friends of the Park. In June, the Park Service announced its intent to negotiate its latest lease, to put a boutique hotel and restaurant in the Hale Bath House, which would leave only the Maurice Bath House unoccupied.

As a result, the foot traffic on Bathhouse Row, and the dollars spent on Bathhouse Row, have increased, "even if you take into account visitors coming and then spending someplace else," Fernandez says.

The bookstore in the Bathhouse Row Emporium, a joint project of Eastern National and the National Park Service in the Lamar Bath House lobby, did "wonderfully" in 2013.

"The evidence is right in here. You can see it just in our own little piece of the street."

Fernandez also related how, on a "crummy weather" day in June, the Emporium store did about $3,000 to $4,000 more than the same day in June 2013.

Fernandez said the kind of visitor has also changed since last year. "Even with fewer visitors last month, the store did better than the previous year, same month, with fewer visitors."

The report, overall, shows that there were 2.78 million visitors to Arkansas' national parks in 2013, who spent an estimated $144.3 million and supported 2,000 jobs, said a news release accompanying its release.

While Arkansas park visits and economic impact increased in 2013, nationally, park visitation and economic impact declined, the release said.

The report said National Park System visitation, which had remained relatively consistent over the last several years, declined by more than 3 percent in 2013, compared to 2012.

"The authors of the report said the 16-day government shutdown in October 2013 accounted for most of the national decline in park visitation. The economists also cited inflation adjustments for differences between visitation and visitor spending, jobs supported and overall effect on the U.S. economy," the release said.

"People are seeking quality," Fernandez said. "And if you give them quality, they will stay longer, they will buy the quality souvenir, they will go after the quality experience."

Most people only get the one vacation a year, and they want it to be special, so they will do anything they can to make it enjoyable, perhaps even to the point of being more extravagant with their purchases, she said.

Arkansas' other national parks are Pea Ridge National Military Park, Fort Smith National Historic Site, Buffalo National River, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Arkansas Post National Memorial, and President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site.

Local on 07/26/2014

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