ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The Blue Ridge Parkway, often called “America’s favorite drive,” stretches 469 miles through the Appalachian Mountains and offers incredible views as it winds through North Carolina and Virginia.
“The parkway is so much more than a traditional national park unit. It is not only one of the most biodiverse places in the temperate world, it is a living museum of the history and culture of this region. But it is much more than that. It is the memory of an experience with your grandfather and a promise of a new adventure with your grandchildren. It is our home,” Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation CEO Carolyn Widner Ward said.
It would seem tourists agree.
A new National Park Service report showed that 16,757,635 Blue Ridge Parkway visitors spent almost $1.4 billion in communities near the park in 2023. That spending supported 19,159 jobs in local areas and had a cumulative benefit to the local economies of more than $1.8 billion.
“The Blue Ridge Parkway is a twisting ribbon of mountain road laid upon the landscape almost a hundred years ago. It was designed to connect two national parks (Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park), put mountain communities back to work in the time of the depression and showcase the diversity of both the natural and cultural landscapes woven together through the tapestry of rural Appalachian communities,” Ward said. “It weaves its way through 29 counties and two states and is the most visited national park unit in the country with more visitors than Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon combined.”
The National Park Service report, 2023 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, showed 325.5 million visitors spent $26.4 billion in communities near national parks. That spending supported 415,400 jobs, provided $19.4 billion in labor income and $55.6 in economic output to the U.S. economy. The lodging sector had the highest direct contributions with $9.9 billion in economic output and 89,200 jobs. The restaurants received the next greatest direct contributions with $5.2 billion in economic output and 68,600 jobs.
“I’m so proud that our parks and the stories we tell make a lasting impact on more than 300 million visitors a year,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in a news release. “And I’m just as proud to see those visitors making positive impacts of their own, by supporting local economies and jobs in every state in the country.”
“The 2023 visitor spending report is a reminder of the important relationship between the historic, 469-mile parkway, the numerous communities the park passes through and park visitors,” Superintendent Tracy Swartout said in the news release. “The report also reinforces the importance of several generation-defining infrastructure investments at work on the parkway as a result of the Great American Outdoors Act. Our ability to care for these special places is strongly linked to the vitality of local economies of present and future generations. Simply put, America’s national parks continue to be great investments.”
An interactive tool is available to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, and total economic contribution by sector for national, state and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data. The interactive tool and report are available on the NPS website.
To learn more about national parks in North Carolina and Virginia and how the National Park Service works with communities across both states to help preserve local history, conserve the environment, and provide outdoor recreation, go to nps.gov/state/nc and nps.gov/state/va.