New National Park report shows economic impact

FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. (WDEF) – The Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is a boost to the North Georgia economy.

A new National Park Service report shows the 1,002,373 visitors to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in 2015 spent $63,192,300 in communities near the park.

Furthermore, that spending supported 979 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $77,644,700.

The peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis was conducted by economists Catherine Cullinane Thomas of the U.S. Geological Survey and Lynne Koontz of the National Park Service.

The report shows $16.9 billion of direct spending by 307.2 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. This spending supported 295,000 jobs nationally; 252,000 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $32 billion.
You can download the report here.