Tourism to Sagamore Hill is economically benefiting the surrounding communities, according to a new report by the National Park Service.
The National Park Service (NPS) report shows that 42,300 visitors to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in 2015 spent $2.4 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 30 jobs in the area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $3.3 million.
The Sagamore site reopened in the summer of 2015 after an extensive rehabilitation project that took more than three years and cost nearly $10 million. During the rehabilitation, visitor spending averaged $901,500 over a three-year period. This latest report shows the economic benefit Sagamore Hill provides to the Long Island community since it reopened.
“Sagamore Hill welcomes visitors from across the country and around the world,” said superintendent Kelly Fuhrman. “We are delighted to share the story of this place and the experiences it provides. We also feature the park as a way to introduce our visitors to this part of the country and all that it offers. National park tourism is a significant driver in the national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service, and it’s a big factor in our local economy as well. We appreciate the partnership and support of our neighbors and are glad to be able to give back by helping to sustain local communities.”
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.
According to the 2015 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.1 percent) followed by food and beverages (20.2 percent), gas and oil (11.8 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent) and souvenirs and other expenses (9.8 percent).
The authors of this report produced an interactive tool where users can explore current year visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available at the NPS Social Science Program website go.nps.gov/vse.
The report includes information for visitor spending at individual parks and by state.
To learn more about national parks in New York and how the National Park Service works with New York communities to help preserve local history, conserve the environment and provide outdoor recreation, go to www.nps.gov/newyork.
