NPS / Jacob W. Frank
News Release Date: January 21, 2022
Contact: Morgan Warthin, (307) 344-2015
MAMMOTH Scorching SPRINGS, WY – The park hosted 4,860,537 recreation visits in 2021, up 28% from 2020 (3,806,306 visits), earning it the busiest year on history.
In 2021, visitation for May perhaps, June, July, August, and September ended up the busiest on record. July was also the most-frequented month on report in Yellowstone’s heritage and the initial time visitation exceeded 1 million visits in a one month.
The checklist below exhibits the yr-to-date trend for recreation visits above the very last several several years:
2021 – 4,860,537
2020 – 3,806,306*
2019 – 4,020,288
2018 – 4,115,000
2017 – 4,116,524
2016 – 4,257,177
Though the park correctly counted 4.86 million visits in 2021, a close examination of visitor use knowledge exhibits that above 350,000 automobiles re-entered the park in 2021 when compared to 2019 (ahead of COVID-19). This is probably thanks to roughly 20% less right away stays in the park in the course of the yr. Because of to a range of variables which include construction assignments and COVID-19, the park experienced close to 20% fewer campsites and lodge rooms offered in 2021 when compared to previous a long time. This translated to extra website visitors leaving the park to right away somewhere else and then returning than in prior years. Also, statistical categories the park tracked, including path counters, tonnage of trash, water utilization, and general public safety phone calls, showed customer-use levels far more similar to 2019, when the park counted 4 million visits. The park is analyzing enhanced application that can much more reliably and precisely differentiate new visits vs . the exact people getting into the park multiple moments.
Impacted regions: made corridors
Yellowstone’s road corridors and parking places equate to less than 1,750 (.079%) acres of the park’s 2.2 million acres. Most site visitors keep in a half mile of these corridors.
Visitor use system
Yellowstone’s customer use strategy, created in 2019, focuses on the impacts of expanding visitation on: 1) park means 2) staffing, infrastructure and operations 3) customer working experience and 4) gateway communities, including financial and recreational accessibility. The park is concentrating on the most congested regions including Previous Devoted, Halfway Geyser Basin, Norris, Canyon rims and Lamar Valley.
Steps
The park has made a in depth useful resource resource to check and respond to impacts on methods. The park piloted an AV shuttle program in 2021, shifting around 10,000 visitors at Canyon Village and screening know-how that could be utilized in the potential. A main shuttle feasibility review is underway to assess the viability of a shuttle technique in the Halfway Geyser Basin corridor. The park is also having benefit of facts derived from latest significant customer surveys and transportation reports to advise long term conclusions and is working intently with Grand Teton Nationwide Park on upcoming answers considering that both of those parks considerably share visitation every single 12 months.
Yellowstone has finished more than $100 million in projects in excess of the earlier two several years to make improvements to transportation infrastructure, cut down targeted traffic congestion and enhance visitor ordeals. Significant additional investments will go on in 2022 and 2023 in many locations of the park as component of funding obtained from the Great American Outdoors Act.
Far more information on park visitation, which includes how we compute these figures, is readily available on the NPS Stats site.
Editor’s notice: *The park was shut March 24-Might 18, 2020, owing to COVID-19. Two entrances ended up open May possibly 18-31 and the remaining 3 opened on June 1.
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