HARKERS ISLAND, NC -In 2016 Cape Lookout National Seashore had 458,000 visits, up by 57,587 visits (6.95%) from 2015. The increase in visitation highlights a celebratory year for Cape Lookout, which recognized the National Park Service Centennial on August 25th and the seashore’s 50th Anniversary on March 10th.
“For over a century, people from across the country and around the world have come to the Southern Outer Banks to enjoy the serene beauty of the Crystal Coast and vacation," said Acting Superintendent Mike Gauthier. “We believe the Find Your Park Centennial campaign, in partnership with the National Park Foundation, helped to bring additional visitors to the region. We were excited to attract new audiences and highlight the unique character of eastern North Carolina and the Southern Outer Banks."
Nationally, there were 330,971,689 recreation visits in 2016 - up by 23.7 million visits (7.7%) over 2015. Three hundred and eighty-two of the 417 parks in the National Park System count visitors and 77 of those parks set a new record for annual recreation visits. This is about 20% of reporting parks.
For more information about visitation, please go to the National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics web page at https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
