Passport to Texas

 

This is Passport to Texas

A survey of Texas’ 95 state parks, historic sites and natural areas by Texas A & M University indicates park visitation brings hundreds of millions of dollars into the state’s economy annually.

08—We collected that data at 29 actual park locations, which we then extrapolated to the rest of the parks in the system.

Kevin Good, with state parks, says the survey looked at where survey respondents were from, how long they were visiting the park, and where they spent their money, among other things.

12—Because the economic impact of a visit to a restaurant, perhaps, might be different than spending dollars at a gas station. So, we wanted to see where their money was being left behind in the community.

The agency will use the data for the betterment of parks, their visitors and the communities they serve.

35—Local park management will be able to use it to educate their community on the value of that site, and how the state’s investment in that park actually pays multiple returns to the local community [including job creation]. It will also be used internally to help us evaluate where some parks may need some additional marketing input, or looking at how parks relate with their local community, and to some extent, where perhaps we may need to invest in additional facilities.

That’s our show…for Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.