America’s national parks are seeing more visitors in 2009 than a year earlier, according to visitation information collected by the National Park Service (NPS). In the first half of 2009, all national parks combined experienced 127.7 million visits, an increase of nearly 4.5 million visits over the same period in 2008. In June alone, visitation to national parks increased by over 718,000 visits from 2008 to 2009.


Earlier this year, Secretary of the Interior Salazar announced that the National Park Service would be offering three “fee free weekends” in 2009. President Obama and his family will be visiting Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park this weekend, which is the third fee-free weekend of the summer.


National Parks serve as primary economic generators in local communities across America. Each year, park visitors spend $11 billion in local economies, supporting 213,000 jobs in gateway communities, including 54,000 jobs in the hotel and restaurant sectors, 23,000 jobs in retail, and 18,000 in amusements sectors. In addition, the NPS has nearly 600 concessioners at 120 different sites, employing over 25,000 people.


Sutton Bacon, President and CEO of Nantahala Outdoor Center near Smokey Mountain National Park in North Carolina, told BOSS that NOC has seen a rise in visitors & rafting guests that mirrors the rise in visitation that National Parks have seen over this summer.  “With activities in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Nantahala National Forest, Cherokee National Forest, Pisgah National Forest, Sumter National Forest and Chattahoochee National Forest, we take guests into National Public Lands in every activity that we offer. We are extremely pleased with our numbers over the past couple of months as the “staycation” mindset seems to have directly impacted our success over the summer season. ”


To stimulate additional economic activity and to protect the national parks for future generations, the Department of the Interior is investing $750 million in nearly 800 projects through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Additional funding through the Federal Highway Administration will improve park roads for millions of visitors.