Carlsbad Caverns visitors spent $23M in 2013
Associated Press
July 20th, 2014
CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Tourists visiting Carlsbad Caverns National Park spent more than $23 million last year on the surrounding area.
The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported Saturday a new study released by the National Park Service shows visitors to the popular tourist attraction helped support more than 300 jobs in Carlsbad.
According to the study, more than 388,000 people visited the park in 2013. About 94 percent of them were not locals.
Carlsbad Caverns is known for its underground limestone caves and rock formations.
The NPS says 273 million park visitors nationwide directly spent 14.6 billion last year in communities within 60 miles of a national park. The agency says the spending helped support 237,000 jobs nationally. More than 197,000 of those jobs were in gateway communities.