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2.5 Million Visitors To National Parks In South Florida In 2013

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — A new National Park Service report says more than 2.5 million people visited the national parks in South Florida last year.

According to the report released earlier this week, those visitors spent $206 million in surrounding communities, supporting over 2,700 jobs.

The report includes Biscayne, Everglades and Dry Tortugas national parks, along with the Big Cypress National Preserve. Officials say visitor spending increased slightly in the four parks over the previous year. Nationwide, visitor spending dropped 1 percent.

Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve each hosted more than a million visitors last year. Half a million people visited Biscayne National Park, and 58,400 people visited the remote Dry Tortuguas National Park, 70 miles west of Key West.

(© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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