Economic Impacts of Great Smoky Mountain National Park Visitors on the Local Region, 1997-2000
Stynes D. 2002. Economic Impacts of Great Smoky Mountain National Park Visitors on the Local Region, 1997-2000. Michigan State University, Department of Park, Recreation and Tourism Resources. East Lansing, MI
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) reported over 10 million visitors in 2000, including 329,721 overnight stays in the park. Gateway communities of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Townsend and Cherokee have extensive tourism developments including a major theme park, numerous factory outlet malls, an Indian gaming casino, and a variety of other entertainment, recreation and retail establishments targeted at park visitors and tourists more generally. As Great Smoky Mountains National Park is integrally linked to tourism activity in the area, we begin with an assessment of the economic importance of tourism to the region. Then using park visitor statistics and park visitor spending patterns we identify the portion of economic activity in the area from park visitors. Economic impacts are first presented for 1997 and then updated to 2000. The local region is defined to encompass a six county area: Blount, Cocke and Sevier counties in Tennessee and Graham, Haywood and Swain counties in North Carolina.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Stynes, Daniel J
- Date of Issue
- 2002-02
- Publisher
- Michigan State University, Department of Park, Recreation and Tourism Resources
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- Concessions, Economic Impact, MGM2, Money Generation Model, Social Science, Tourism Satellite Accounting, TSA, Visitor Spending, Visitor Statistic