The National Park Service released a report this week showing that 1.4 million visitors to Hot Springs National Park in 2014 spent $87.6 million in the community, supporting 1,422 jobs in the area, with a cumulative benefit of nearly $111.4 million to the local economy.
According to a news release, the peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by U.S. Geological Survey economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Christopher Huber and National Park Service economist Lynne Koontz.
The report shows $15.7 billion of direct spending by 292.8 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. The spending supported 277,000 jobs nationally -- 235,600 of which were found in those gateway communities -- with a cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy of $29.7 billion.
According to the 2014 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging, at 30.6 percent, followed by food and beverages, travel, admissions and fees, and souvenirs and other expenses.
Hot Springs National Park Superintendent Josie Fernandez said the park welcomes a wide variety of visitors from around the world, and that workers are "delighted to share the story of this place and the experiences it provides."
"We also feature the park as a way to introduce our visitors to this part of the country and all that it offers," she said in the release. "National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it's a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities."
Fernandez has previously said that the system used to count visitation to Hot Springs National Park that was put in place during the 1989 opening of the Fordyce Bath House is dated and that the Park Service is working to better track those numbers.
"What we have become aware of is the fact that the counters that were put in place in front of the Fordyce in 1989 are only counting those visitors," Fernandez said. "What has happened, particularly in the last 11 years, is that visitors can now come to any of the bath houses, or spend the afternoon on the Arlington Lawn. And it's those visitors that aren't being counted."
Fernandez said the park has been working closely with the Washington, D.C., office's "number crunching team" to determine the feasibility of adding more counters and where to place them for more accurate representations.
"We're wanting to strategically place them along Bathhouse Row," she said. "And we are even going to place them along our trails, because how many people just visit our beautiful hiking trails? By adding these along the way, we will capture the numbers we're needing."
The importance, she said, is that at this point visitors are not charged to enter the park and will not be in the near future. However, the numbers will better estimate the impact the national park has on the surrounding community.
"The funny thing is, I was giving a speech just last week about the impact of the park on the community and I was using 2013 numbers," she said. "And while we see that visitation is steady in comparison to last year -- last year being 2013 -- we see the economic impact has increased from $110 million to $111.4 million.
"The fact that a park exists and thrives in our community is good news for the community. And or that, the community should hold a special interest in our park because, whether a person works in the park, near the park or in Hot Springs, they are impacted by our visitors. Because, if you look at other national parks across the state, while they may have the land mass and acreage, all signs still point to Hot Springs National Park as the No. 1 tourist destination in Arkansas."
Local on 04/25/2015