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Visits To National Park System Down More Than 36 Million Through July

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Published Date

September 3, 2020
Mount Rainier National Park was one of many national parks that has seen great declines in recreational visits through July. Rainier's visitation was down 340,948, according to the National Park Service./Rebecca Latson

Mount Rainier National Park was one of many national parks that have seen great declines in recreational visits through July. Rainier's visitation was down 340,948, according to the National Park Service./Rebecca Latson

While there's been a great hunger during the coronavirus pandemic to get outdoors, closures and access restrictions have no doubt played a role in a nearly 20 percent decline in visits to the National Park System through July.

According to the National Park Service's prelininary year-to-date visitation count, through July traffic to the parks was off by 36.4 million.

Among the parks that had rather large declines in recreational visits:

  • Acadia National Park, down 671,086 through July
  • Arches National Park, down 465,365
  • Bryce Canyon National Park, down 865,228
  • Canaveral National Seashore, down 718,026
  • Death Valley National Park, down 557,177
  • Gateway National Recreation Area, down 654,999
  • Gettysburg National Military Park, down 320,190
  • Glacier National Park, down 962,777
  • Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, down 706,953
  • Grand Teton National Park, down 399,268
  • Grand Canyon National Park, down 2.1 million
  • Great Smoky Mountains National Park, down 1.4 million
  • Gulf Islands National Seashore, down 1,109,749
  • Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, down 446,847
  • Joshua Tree National Park, down 664,553
  • Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Alaska, down 750,272
  • Natchez Trace Parkway, down 2,000,456
  • Pearl Harbor National Memorial, down 640,420
  • Rocky Mountain National Park, down 844,411
  • Yosemite National Park, down 1,300,347
  • Zion National Park, down 1,110,368

But not all units of the National Park System have seen declines this year through July. Among those that showed year-to-date improvements in visitation:

  • Big Cypress National Preserve, up 216,384
  • Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park, up 794,052
  • Golden Gate National Recreation Area, up 444,759
  • Valley Forge National Historical Park, up 342,795

Overall, the National Park System with its 419 units counted 155,447,752 recreational visits through July, down from 191,849,701 through July 2019, a drop of 18.9 percent, according to the Park Service.

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Comments

Submitted by Greg Anderson on September 9, 2020 - 7:50am.

I wonder if the "park experience" has improved for the 80%?


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