Haleakalā Tourism Credited with $68 M Benefit to Local Economy

Haleakala sunrise, file photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

A new National Park Service report for 2011 shows visitors to Maui’s Haleakalā National Park spent $68,757,000 in communities surrounding the park.  The report further notes that the spending supported 836 jobs in the local area.

The park recorded a total of nearly 957,000 visitors from across the US and around the world.

Superintendent Natalie Gates responded to the report saying Haleakalā National Park is a wonderful place to learn about Hawai’i’s story.

“The National Park Service is proud to have been entrusted with the care of America’s most treasured places and delighted that the visitors we welcome generate significant contributions to the local, state, and national economy,” said Gates.

The information is part of a peer-reviewed spending analysis of national park visitors across the country conducted by Michigan State University for the National Park Service.

For 2011, that report shows $13 billion of direct spending by 279 million park visitors in communities within 60 miles of a national park.  According to the study, visitor spending had a $30 billion impact on the entire US economy and supported 252,000 jobs nationwide.

The study indicates that most visitor spending (63%) supported jobs in lodging, food, and beverage service, followed by recreation and entertainment (17%), other retail (11%), transportation and fuel (7%) and wholesale and manufacturing (2%).