Visitor spending around Lake Mead National Recreation Area held steady last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Park Service.
The report estimated that Lake Mead visitors spent about $336 million within a 60-mile radius around the park in 2018. That figure matches the estimate of spending in 2017, but it also represents the first time in five years that spending hasn’t increased.
Roughly half of last year’s spending from the estimated 7.6 million visitors to Lake Mead last year came at hotels and restaurants, with slightly more than $100 million spent on gas and groceries.
The National Park Service also says areas surrounding the Grand Canyon benefited from millions of tourism dollars in 2018.
Grand Canyon National Park officials say that 6.3 million people who visited in 2018 spent $947 million in communities near the park. They say that spending helped support more than 12,500 local jobs.