Dover, Tennessee – A new National Park Service report shows that 169,000 visitors to Fort Donelson National Battlefield in 2018 spent $11,000,000 in communities near the park. That spending supported 135 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $14,000,000.
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 the local economy as well.
“The Fort Donelson National Battlefield welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world,” Park Superintendent Brian McCutchen said. “And we are delighted to share the story of this place and the experiences it provides.”
McCutchen said, “We recognize the far-reaching benefit that visitor-related spending has within a sixty-mile radius of the park, which includes the communities of Clarksville, Paris, Murray, and Hopkinsville.”
The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas and Egan Cornachione of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service. The report shows $20.2 billion of direct spending by more than 318 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 329,000 jobs nationally; 268,000 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $40.1 billion.
Lodging expenses account for the largest share of visitor spending, about $6.8 billion in 2018. Food expenses are the second largest spending area and visitors spent $4 billion in restaurants and bars and another $1.4 billion at grocery and convenience stores.
Visitor spending on lodging supported more than 58,000 jobs and more than 61,000 jobs in restaurants. Visitor spending in the recreation industries supported more than 28,000 jobs and spending in retail supported more than 20,000 jobs.
Report authors also produced 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: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm
To learn more about national parks in Tennessee and how the National Park Service works with Tennessee communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/Tennessee.
Photo by Shannon McFarlin.
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