Alamogordo, NM – During Centennial Year of the National Park Service, White Sands National Monument recorded 555,793 recreation visits in 2016, an increase of nearly 12 percent over 2015 visitation numbers and the highest visitation recorded since 1998. National park sites across the country experience high visitation with 331 million recreation visits to America’s national parks in 2016.
“The National Park Service and White Sands National Monument is actively reaching out to new audiences and inviting them to explore their national parks” stated Marie Frías Sauter, Superintendent of White Sands National Monument. “Programs such as Every Kid in a Park, which provides free access for fourth grade students and their families, and the Find Your Park/Encuentra Tu Parque campaign launched with the National Park Foundation, are helping us reach new audiences.”
The National Park Services’ centennial and Find Your Park initiative combined with other popular events, such as the Centennial BioBlitz and other national park anniversaries, good travel weather and programs such as “Every Kid in a Park” helped drive record visitation across the country.
This high level of visitation has a positive economic impact on the local economy. Visitors to White Sands National Monument in 2015 spent $25,729,300 in communities near the park. That spending supported 387 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $29,352,100. The economic impact for 2016 has not yet been calculated.