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