Check it out: Grand Canyon pumps $813M into Northern Arizona economy

PHOENIX — A National Park Service report released Thursday shows a record-breaking crowd of 5.5 million visitors spent $584 million in communities near Grand Canyon National Park in 2015.

According to the peer-reviewed report, spending from tourists from all corners the globe supported 8,897 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the Northern Arizona economy of $813 million.

“The visitors that come to this World Heritage Site have a positive impact on the local economy, the economy of Arizona, and our national economy, returning $10 for every $1 invested,” Park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga said in a release.

According to the 2015 report, most park visitor spending was for lodging (31.1 percent) followed by food and beverages (20.2 percent), gas and oil (11.8 percent), admissions and fees (10.2 percent) and souvenirs and other expenses (9.8 percent).

The report’s authors created an interactive tool for users to explore visitor spending, jobs, labor income, value added, and output effects by sector for national, state, and local economies. Users can also view year-by-year trend data.

As profitable as the throngs of visitors can be for the communities surrounding the park, advocates for the natural world wonder worry that the high visitation comes at a price.

Kevin Dahl, the Arizona program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, said he worries that those visitors might notice crumbling infrastructure as they enter the park.

“This is our centennial year,” Dahl said. “They (park visitors) should not experience poorly cleaned toilets.”

Nonetheless, park officials said they will continue the open door policy as long as there is space.

“If people want to come to this park, we’ll let them into the park,” said Emily Davis, a spokeswoman for the Grand Canyon.

Cronkite News’s Jessica Swarner contributed to this article.