The following is from Jake Procino, Workforce Analyst/Economist from State of Oregon Employment Department:
The National Park System is a collection over 400 areas and 84 million acres in U.S. states, district and territories, including parks, sites and monuments. That system is managed by the National Park Service, a federal bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior. According to the National Park Service, the purpose of these national parks is “to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”
These national parks attract many tourists both local and non-local. The National Park Service tracks this data and recently published a report called the “2023 National Park Service Visitor Spending Effects Report.” According to the report, there were 325 million park visitors who spent around $26.4 billion while visiting National Park Services lands across the U.S. in 2023.
Oregon has five national parks lands within state boundaries, four of which have measured direct employment effects in Oregon in the report (Nez Perce National Historical Park is not included in analysis for Oregon; only three of the 38 sites that make up Nez Perce National Historic Park are in Oregon; most of the sites are in Idaho).
According to the National Park Service, there were about 1.0 million park visitors who spent an estimated $86.8 million while visiting national parks in Oregon. Total visitor spending nominally increased 1.5% from 2022, corresponding with a small increase in visits to Oregon national parks. This is below a peak of $97.5 million of total visitor spending in Oregon in 2016.