Tourism at Casa Grande Ruins at Coolidge resulted in spending of more than $3.5M in surrounding communities, reports a new study released Friday by the National Park Service.
Additionally, the popular tourist attraction, which hosted more than 65,000 visitors last year, helped support more than 51 jobs in the local area.
The Park Service says 273 million park visitors nationwide directly spent 14.6 billion last year in communities within 60 miles of a national park. The agency says the spending helped support 237,000 jobs nationally. More than 197,000 of those jobs were in gateway communities.
The Casa Grande Ruins National Monument is known for its extended network of irrigation canals and was home to an ancient Sonoran desert farming community.
