Acadia visitor spending continues to rise
Photo / Dave Clough
One of the many vistas of Acadia National Park. The park provided a major boost to Maine's summer tourism industry.
Visitors to Acadia National Park in 2016 spent an estimated $274 million, which supported about 4,200 jobs.
Maine Public reported on the National Park Service’s latest economic report for parks across the nation. In Acadia, about 33% of visitor spending went toward hotel accommodations, 18% toward restaurants, and the rest toward recreation, retail, transportation, gas and groceries.
According to a news release from Acadia, the spending had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $333 million.
“Acadia National Park’s extraordinary beauty and recreational opportunities attracted a record number of visitors in 2016 making it the eighth most-visited national park in the country,” Superintendent Kevin Schneider said in the release. “We value our relationship with the neighboring communities and appreciate the services and amenities they provide to park visitors.”
Nationally, the report showed $18.4 billion of direct spending by 331 million park visitors in counties within 60 miles of a national park. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was about $35 billion. Tourism to national parks returns more than $10 to the national economy for every $1 invested in the NPS.
An interactive tool provided with the report showed the visitor spending number is up from $248.6 million spent in 2015.
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