2016 Yellowstone tourists add $680 million to local economy

A U.S. Department of the Interior report says Yellowstone visitor spending in 2016 brought in about $680 million to the park’s gateway communities in Wyoming and Montana. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports according to the data released this week, last year’s total is about $42 million more than 2015 and $100 million more than in 2014. The report looked at visitor spending in communities near park service land and used regional economic multipliers to estimate the contribution. National park visitors across the country brought $34.9 billion to the national economy. The top two direct visitor spending locations were Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Yellowstone came in at sixth.