August Visitation Decreases Slightly

August Visitation Decreases Slightly

The following press release was published by the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service on Sept. 7, 2016. It is reproduced in full below.

Visitation numbers for August decreased slightly in Yellowstone National Park. The overall decrease for August 2016 totaled 1.5 percent below August 2015. However, the first seven months of 2016 are up 4.3 percent compared to the previous year.

Two of the park’s five entrances (West Entrance and North Entrance) showed an increase in vehicles for the month of August compared to August 2015. The South Entrance showed a decrease because it was closed for six days due to fire activity south of the park.

Once again, the most striking increase in vehicle traffic was with buses. There were 16 percent more buses (303 buses) this August compared with August 2015.

Recreational Visits 2016

Recreational Visits 2015

Change

January

30,621

28,091

9%

February

36,327

34,343

5.7%

March

22,924

22,989

(1%)

April

59,253

46,600

27%

May

444,630

386,064

15.2%

June

838,316

780,768

7.37%

July

995,917

980,702

1.5%

August

841,036

854,409

(1.5%)

Total Year-To-Date

3,269,024

3,133,966

4.3%

While many factors could be at play, park managers point to the National Park Service’s Centennial year, marketing and tourism promotions by the states of Montana and Wyoming, and lower gas prices as influences in the record number of visits to Yellowstone so far this year. For additional park visitation data and information on how these statistics are calculated, go to irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park.

Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service

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