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People spend more visiting the Smokies than any other National Park
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America’s most visited National Park is also tops in terms of money generated by visitors, ranking first out of 391 National Park units from Alaska to the Virgin Islands.
Dr. Daniel Stynes of Michigan State University conducted the study and found that visitors contributed $800 million in 2008 to the surrounding communities that include Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Cherokee. That $800 million is a portion of the $11.56 billion that communities surrounding National Parks around the country receive from visitors.
Local economies are also impacted by the Park’s payroll, which for Smokies employees totaled $14.2 million in 2008 (ranked fifth behind Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Golden Gate National Recreation Area).
There are a couple of interesting points that arise out of this study.
Some parks charge upwards of $25 or $30 per vehicle entering the park for a seven day period. The Smokies do not charge an entrance fee to visitors, leaving a little bit more money in the pockets of tourists to spend at Ole Smoky Candy Kitchen in Gatlinburg (for example).
Of the 9 million visitors to the Smoky Mountains, many are just taking a scenic drive through on their way to a destination outside of the Park. They fall under the category of day visitors, and so do the many people that stay in hotels, lodges or cabins surrounding the Park boundary. A day visit is often one small part of their longer stay in the neighboring communities.
Most of the people who stay over night in Great Smoky Mountains National Park are tent and RV campers. The fact that the Smokies have only one remote lodge within the park, up at LeConte, helps the local establishments keep business.
The study also speaks to the importance of National Park jobs to the local economies. With out the National Park there, that part of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina would potentially be very rural with few business or jobs to keep the people living there employed. The $14.2 million paid to Smokies employees is probably less likely to go towards an evening at Dixie Stampede than to less touristy outlets.
The Smokies are not alone in the relationship the Park has with surrounding towns. The next Park on the list, Grand Canyon National Park, generated $423 million. Rounding out the top five are Yellowstone National Park, the Blueridge Parkway and Yosemite National Park. They generated $345 million, $342 million and $292 million respectively.
Click here to read Dr. Stynes entire report.
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