Tourism to New Mexico state parks on the rise
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – One of the big draws to the Land of Enchantment is the vast array of state parks; from lakes to mountains, to desert landscapes. But, how much of an economic impact do they have on our communities? On Wednesday, Toby Velasquez, the director of the State Parks Division of the Energy Mineral and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) gave lawmakers in the Economic and Rural Development and Policy Committee an idea of how valuable an asset New Mexico’s wildlands are.
“La Tierra Encantada, the Land of Enchantment. We all invite people to come to New Mexico because of the outdoors,” Velasquez said.
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He said the amount of people visiting New Mexico’s State Parks is on the rise. “Five million visitors a year on average since coming out of the pandemic. Before that, it would average between four and four and a half million,” Velasquez said.
There are 35 state parks in New Mexico ranging across 25 of 33 counties. Velasquez said while it is a growing portion of the state’s gross domestic product, or GDP, New Mexico still trails behind other southwestern states like Arizona and Colorado. However, he said that in New Mexico, it really supports rural economies. “We support services like shops, restaurants, hotels. The outdoor recreation economy is huge,” Velasquez said.
He told lawmakers data shows the majority of tourists in New Mexico spent roughly $1,800 per trip to see the great outdoors. “The Bureau of Economic Analysis, this is all part of the SCORP plan, reported that in 2019 outdoor recreation contributed $2.4 Billion to New Mexico’s GDP,” Velasquez said.
It has only increased since the pandemic. “The analysis also provided that outdoor recreation contributes to over 35,000 jobs. That is tremendous in New Mexico, especially in a state where we’re wage poor and we need more jobs in rural areas,” Velasquez said.
Velasquez said visitation to the state’s parks increased 12% between 2015 and 2019, and spending grew 18%. They’re working to get up-to-date numbers currently. “We have served 18 million people, almost 19, since January 1st of 2021,” Velasquez said.
New Mexico’s Tourism Department said the great outdoors are one of the state’s biggest attractions. “In our most recent annual visitation study, we saw that 60 percent of all trips to New Mexico involved an outdoor activity,” said Cody Johnson, Director of Communications.
“That’s an economic stimulus that is valuable to our state and I think needs to be held in higher regard moving forward,” Velasquez said.
Velasquez also told lawmakers they have been able to invest nearly all of the $20 million in funding they received in 2021 from the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) across New Mexico for things like roads and infrastructure in the parks.
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