Economic Impact of White Sands National Park Down from 2019 Citizen's Interactive Tool Available for Data

In a year of Covid-19 White Sands National Park was an important contributor to keeping the region around Alamogordo from complete economic collapse. Alamogordo benefited more than many communities because of the constant payroll of the regional military bases and the 415,000 visitors who visited White Sands in 2020.

The US Park Service estimated the economic impact of White Sands as $22 Million spent by tourists in the local communities providing a lift in what would have been a dismal year for hotels and tourist related businesses. This number is down about 25% from prior years but does show the strength in the part and its economic impact within New Mexico with limited travel during the pandemic.

White Sands National Park closed from March 2020 until June 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic per the parks information services.

The Park continued to bot be fully operational but several services are available including the dunes area, hiking trails, picnic areas, visitor center and gift shop (both with walk-up tables).

The offerings that remain closed  at the present time are backcountry camping, museum, theater and the many Park Ranger programs that require staff interaction or leadership.

The National Park Service manages the Nation’s most iconic destinations that attract millions of visitors from across the Nation and around the world. Trip-related spending by NPS visitors generates and supports economic activity within park gateway communities. This report summarizes the annual economic contribution analysis that measures how NPS visitor spending cycles through local economies, generating business sales and supporting jobs and income.

In 2020, the National Park System received over 237 million recreation visits (down 28% from
2019). Visitors to national parks spent an estimated $14.5 billion in local gateway regions (down
31% from 2019). The estimated contribution of this spending to the national economy was 234,000 jobs, $9.7 billion in labor income, $16.7 billion in value added, and $28.6 billion in economic output.

The lodging sector saw the highest direct effects, with $5 billion in economic output directly
contributed to this sector nationally. The restaurants sector saw the next greatest effects, with $3 billion in economic output directly contributed to this sector nationally.

Results from the Visitor Spending Effects report series are available online via an interactive tool. Users can view year-by-year trend data and explore current year visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and economic output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. The interactive tool is available at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

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