It was a big year for the National Park Service.
The record-breaking number of visitors to United States' 417 national parks in 2016 contributed almost $35 billion to the U.S. economy.
Twelve million people visited Arizona national parks, spending more than $995 million.
Nationally, the Grand Canyon took in the third-largest amount of visitor spending last year, behind Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains.
The Grand Canyon's 6 million visitors spent more than $648 million 2016. That’s a 10 percent increase from 2015. Most of that was at the park’s hotels.
