A Rogue River waterfall tumbles through the forest a few hundred yards below Boundary Springs in Crater Lake National Park. 

Regional economies were boosted by several million dollars because of the allure of Crater Lake National Park, Oregon Caves National Monument and the Lava Beds/Tule Lake national monuments.

A new National Park Service report shows that 647,751 visitors to Crater Lake and 131,000 visitors to Lava Beds and Tulelake in 2022 spent more than $69 million in communities near the parks. That spending supported 961 jobs in areas near the parks and had a combined cumulative benefit to the local economies of $97.7 million.

“Since 1916, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of our national parks. With the help of volunteers and partners, we safeguard these special places and share their stories with more than 300 million visitors every year,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “The impact of tourism to national parks is undeniable: bringing jobs and revenue to communities in every state in the country and making national parks an essential driver to the national economy.”

“People come to Crater Lake National Park to enjoy spectacular views of the deepest lake in the United States,” said Crater Lake National Park Superintendent Craig Ackerman. “We recognize that this tourism is a critical driver to the local economy, bringing 728 jobs and $51.2 million revenue to communities within 60 miles of the park.”

Chris Mengel, Lava Beds-Tule Lake superintendent, said, “People come to Lava Beds National Monument to not only enjoy the lava tubes but also learn about the history of the Modoc peoples’ homeland. We recognize that tourism is a critical driver to the local economy, bringing 74 jobs and over six million dollars in revenue to communities within 60 miles of the park.”

Nationally, the peer-reviewed visitor spending analysis, conducted by NPS economists, shows $23.9 billion of direct spending by nearly 312 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park. The spending supported 378,400 jobs nationally; 314,600 of those jobs are found in these gateway communities. The cumulative benefit to the U.S. economy was $50.3 billion. As for the economics of visitor spending, the lodging sector had the highest direct effects, with $9 billion in economic output nationally. The restaurant sector had the second greatest impact with $4.6 billion in economic output nationally.

The report includes an interactive tool that enables users to explore 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 webpage (www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm).

Based on the report, Crater Lake had 527,259 recreation visits in 2022, visitor spending was $51.2 million, accounted for 728 jobs, resulted in a labor income of $27.7 million, while value added totaled $42.6 million, with a total economic impact of $74.8 million. The report says 98.4% of the visitor spending was by non-locals.

Lava Beds/Tule Lake had 130,969 recreation visits in 2022, total visitor spending was $6,446,000, accounted for 74 jobs, resulted in a labor income of $2,597,000, with value added totaled $4,032,000, and had a total economic impact of $7,206,000. The report says 95.3% of the visitor spending was by non-locals.

Oregon Caves had 72,923 recreation visits in 2022, total visitor spending was $6,763,000, accounted for 93 jobs, resulted in a labor income of $3,296,000, with value added totaled $5,111,000 and a total economic impact of $9,112,000. The report estimates 98.3% of the visitor spending was by non-locals.

In Oregon, including Crater Lake National Park, Oregon Caves National Monument, Tule Lake National Monument and Lava Beds National Monument, there were 1,045,307 recreation visits with total visitor spending being $85.5 million, 1,190 jobs, $47.6 million labor income, $75 million in value added, and an economic output of $129 million.