Impacts of Visitor Spending on Local Economy: Capulin Volcano National Monument, 2003

Executive Summary Capulin Volcano National Monument hosted 61,373 recreation visits in 2003. These visits represent 19,100 party trips to the area (Table E1). The two largest segments in terms of days spent in the region were day visitors from outside the area (59%) and visitors staying overnight in area hotels (20%). Park visitors accounted for 4,600 room nights in area motels. On average, park visitors spent $58 per party per day in the local area with spending varying considerably across four visitor segments — from $163 per night for visitors staying in area motels to $25 per party for day visitors. Visitors staying in motels account for 57% of the total park visitor spending, followed by non-local day visitors (25%). The majority of the visitor spending is for lodging ($347,000), followed by restaurants ($276,000) and gas/oil ($244,000). Park visitors spent $1.3 million dollars within an hour driving distance of the park (approximately 50 miles). (Repeated information) Pass through visitors, not staying overnight in the local area, and visitors on day trips account for 70% of trips and 26% of park visitor spending. Segment Recreation visits (000's) Party Trips (000's) Party days/nights (000's) Average spending (per party night) Total spending (000's) Pct of spending Local day trip 2.2 The economic impacts of this spending were estimated with the National Park Service's Money Generation Model version 2 (MGM2).The MGM2 model uses park visitation data, spending averages from the 2003 Capulin Volcano National Monument Visitor Survey and the MGM2 rural area multipliers to estimate spending, income and jobs attributable to the park. The $1.3 million spent by park visitors generated $349,000 in direct personal income (wages and salaries) for local residents and supported 28 jobs in tourism-related businesses. Including secondary effects the total impact of park visitor spending on the local economy was $457,000 in personal income and 33 jobs. These figures do not include the impacts of park employees, park operations or construction activity.