A new report from the National Parks Service says Alaska parks brought over 2.5 million visitors, $1.1 billion and 17,000 jobs into the state economy last year.
National Park Service spokesman John Quinley says restaurants, air taxi services, and local shops across the state see economic benefits from the parks.
“You know, replace the fishing rod that got lost on their flight to Philadelphia or something,” Quinley said. “It’s that local spending is well that cumulatively creates jobs, it’s not one person creating one job with their spending, but 30,000 people sort of spending bits of money in a lot of different places.”
Alaska parks in 2014 had the highest visitation on record.
Matt Martin is a reporter for KDLG in Dillingham.
