If you think it was a lot more crowded at Joshua Tree National Park last year, you’re right. Visitation to our local national park was more than 2.9 million people in 2017, up 400,000 from the previous year. And those 2.9 million visitors spent more than $138 million in the communities near the park. According to a new report released Wednesday by the National Park Service, that spending was more than double the amount of money visitors spent in our area just five years ago. In addition, visitor spending supported almost 1800 jobs in the local area. Most park visitor spending was for lodging, at nearly 37 percent, followed by food and gasoline, at 25 and 23 percent, respectively. Gas, transportation, recreation, and retail purchases round out the expenditures.
For more information, go to https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm , click on Park Economies, and then search for Joshua Tree National Park.
