Date: January 7, 2011
Contact: Al Nash, 307-344-2015
National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Yellowstone National Park
P.O. Box 168
Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2011 11-003
Al Nash (307) 344-2015
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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK NEWS RELEASE
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Yellowstone 2010 Visitation Tops 3.6 Million
For the second year in a row, and for the third time in the last four years, Yellowstone National Park has set a new annual visitation record.
During the calendar year, 3,640,184 people visited the world’s first national park. Recreation visits in 2010 were 10.5 percent higher than recorded in 2009, which itself was a record year.
This past year the park set monthly visitation records in June, July, August, September, and October.
All park entrances recorded annual visitation increases compared to 2009 levels. Double-digit percentage increases were recorded through the North and West entrances. The West Entrance continues to be the park’s busiest, which hosted nearly 1.5 million recreational visitors in 2010.
Park managers believe the record visitation was due in part to the public’s recognition that visits to national parks represent a good value for their travel dollar. Aggressive promotion by state tourism offices, stable gasoline prices, and last year’s public television series on the national parks are also believed to have contributed to Yellowstone’s record visitation in 2010.
Detailed park visitation information is available online at http://www.nature.nps.gov/stats/.
- www.nps.gov/yell -
Yellowstone National Park
Annual Recreational Visitors
Rank Year Visitation
1 2010 3,640,184
2 2009 3,295,187
3 2007 3,151,343
4 1992 3,144,405
5 1999 3,131,381
6 1995 3,125,285
7 1998 3,120,830
8 2008 3,066,570
9 1994 3,046,145
10 2003 3,019,375
