What would Arizona be without the Grand Canyon?

In a recent edition of the Grand Canyon National Park newsletter, handed to visitors as they pay their $25 fee per vehicle to get into the Park, it said that the Park's free shuttle buses had carried 85,000,000 passengers since the service's inception. While sites like Coal Mine Canyon might get a hundred people a year, the Grand Canyon is host to roughly five million visitors each year.
The Arizona Hospitality Research and Resource Center, School of Hotel & Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University did a Tourism Study of the Grand Canyon National Park in April, 2005. Not surprisingly, they found that the Grand Canyon National Park is one of the world’s premier attractions, with the power to draw visitors from great distances. to quote from the survey: "This survey documented visitors from all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, plus visitors from 41 foreign countries. Overall, 83% were domestic visitors residing in the United States; California (12.2%), Arizona (8.9%), Texas (4.8%), Florida (3.4%) and New York (3.2%) represented the top domestic markets. Seventeen percent of visitors were of foreign origins, and the top foreign markets were: the United Kingdom (3.8%), Canada (3.5%), Japan (2.1%), Germany (1.9%) and The Netherlands (1.2%). "

Although these facts may not be so surprising, the study also says: "Grand Canyon visitors averaged 48.5 years of age. Nearly half (47.5%) of survey respondents were between the ages of 46 and 65. Those 26 to 45 years comprised over a third of the sample (35.2%). Visitors over age 65 years (11.5%), and those 25 years or younger (5.8%) completed the age segments. GCNP visitors were highly educated. The vast majority of respondents (85.2%) had attended some college. Of these, one-fourth (24.8%) had completed a 4-year degree, while another 34.3% engaged in graduate study or earned graduate degrees."

The economic impact of the Canyon is substantial, the study states that: "Grand Canyon visitor expenditures averaged $536 per travel party in the park and $595 per travel party within 90 miles of the park. The total annual economic impact (direct, indirect and induced) of Grand Canyon National Park visitors was $687 million of output into the regional economy, which supported 12,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the area.

Only a very small percentage of the visitors descend below the rim. Even fewer hike to the bottom of the Canyon. It is something to be viewed, but not experienced, I guess.