September Visitation Increases by Three Percent

Date: October 12, 2016
Contact: Morgan Warthin, [phone]

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, WY – Visitation numbers for September increased in Yellowstone National Park. The overall increase for September 2016 totaled 3.17 percent over September 2015. The first nine months of 2016 are up 4.1 percent compared to the previous year.

Two of the park’s five entrances (South Entrance and Northeast Entrance) showed a slight decrease in vehicles for the month of September compared to September 2015. The South Entrance showed a decrease because it was closed for three days due to fire activity south of the park. Once again, the most striking increase in vehicle traffic was with buses. A total of 2,361 buses were in the park this September compared to 1,934 buses in September 2015 – a 22 percent increase from 2015.

Month	RecreationalVisits 2016	RecreationalVisits 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%)
September	701,754	680,213	3.17%
Total (Year-To-Date)	3,970,778	3,814,178	4.1%

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.