The greater Washington region raked in over $1 billion from about 54 million park visitors in 2018, according to a new report from the National Park Service.
Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. all ranked in the top 10 for visitor spending nationally. Virginia came in 6th, Maryland in 8th, and D.C. followed right behind in 9th place.
The report analyzes how visits to the nation’s various parks and historical sites translate into cold hard cash. Mostly, people spent money on places to stay, eat, and buy things. And D.C. is no different. Lodging (38 percent), restaurants (23 percent), and retail (11 percent) made up the majority of visitor spending.
Visitors, including both people who live in the city and those who don’t, spent a total of $768 million dollars at national parks and historical sites in D.C. last year. This is a dip from a total of $782 million the year before (despite an increase in the total number of tourists to D.C. for the ninth year in a row), but it makes up the bulk of total visitor spending throughout the entire region which came to about $1.1 billion.
The report says that translates to more than $1.58 billion in economic benefits—for a return of $10 for every $1 invested in the National Park Service.
Of the 20 parks and sites in D.C. counted as part of the analysis, the places where visitors spent the most money were:
| Visitor Spending | Total Recreation Visits | |
| Lincoln Memorial | $149.3 million | 7.8 million |
| Vietnam Veterans Memorial | $90.2 million | 4.7 million |
| World War II Memorial | $89 million | 4.6 million |
| Chesapeake & Ohio Canal | $84 million | 4.43 million |
| Korean War Veterans Memorial | $78.5 million | 4.1 million |
The places where visitors spent the least amount amount of money were:
| Visitor Spending | Total Recreation Visits | |
| Frederick Douglass National Historic Site | $1.3 million | 70,000 |
| Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument | $174,000 | 9,081 |
| Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site | $37,000 | 1,953 |
| Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site | $2,000 | 109 |
| Washington Monument (the monument was closed in 2018) | $0 | 0 |
As with many things in D.C., counting visitors to NPS sites in this area can be complicated. The report notes:
“The many monuments and parks in the Washington, D.C. area each count visits separately. To avoid double counting of spending across many national capital parks, we must know how many times a single visitor has been counted as a visit at park units during their trip to the area. For parks in Washington, D.C., we assume an average of 1.7 park visits are counted for day trips by local visitors, 3.4 park visits for day trips by non-local visitors, and 5.1 park visits for visitors on overnight trips.”
NPS says it will conduct a separate analysis that just studies people’s visits to D.C. In the meantime, you can explore an interactive tool displaying results from the report here.
