Tourism to southwest Utah’s national parks and monuments brought more than $1 billion to the local economy in 2016. That comes from a report issued this week by the National Parks Service.
A combined 7.6 million visitors spent an estimated $506 million while visiting Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument and Pipe Springs National Monument, which supports nearly 7,300 jobs across southwestern Utah.
Another 6 million visitors spent an estimated $648 million at nearby Grand Canyon National Park. Parks nationwide saw an all-time high of 331 million visitors for the year.
Visitation was up at parks across the country, but especially in southern Utah, where Zion saw a 17 percent increase in visitors over 2015 and set a new record for attendance, Bryce also set a new record, with visitation up 26 percent.