The Mississippi and Missouri rivers offer popular water sports facilities for both out-of-state visitors and resident vacationers. Iowa's "Little Switzerland" region in the northeast, with its high bluffs of woodland overlooking the Mississippi, is popular for hiking and camping. Notable tourist attractions in the area include the Effigy Mounds National Monument (near Marquette), which has hundreds of prehistoric Indian mounds and village sites, and the Buffalo Ranch (at Fayette), with its herd of live buffalo. Tourist sites in the central part of the state include the state capitol and the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site, with its Presidential Library and Museum.
Iowa has about 85,000 acres (34,400 hectares) of lakes and reservoirs and 19,000 mi (30,600 km) of fishing streams. There are 52 state parks, covering 33,811 acres, and 7 state forests, covering 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares); these and other state recreational areas attract numerous visitors every year.
In 2002, there were about 17.1 million visitors to the state. This showed an increase from 15.9 million in 2001, but a decline from a five-year peak of 18.4 million in 1999. Travel generated expenditures of about $4.3 billion in 2002. In 2001, there were over 61,000 travel-related jobs in the state.