Road Based Commercial Tour Fees

Road-based Commercial Tour CUA Information

The NPS is standardizing road-based commercial tour commercial use authorization (CUA) requirements and fees agency-wide. Currently, road-based commercial tour operators must deal with varying permitting processes and associated fees.

*Note: This information was taken from the NPS Main Commercial Use Authorization Page. Please visit the site provided for any updates/changes.

What is included in the standard process and when will it go into effect?

The standard process affects road-based commercial tour operations occurring after September 30, 2019. After that date, road-based commercial tour operators are required to:

• Obtain a CUA for each NPS unit in which they operate;
• Pay required CUA fees (see below), and;
• Submit mandatory annual CUA reports after each CUA operating season.

Until the standard process is implemented, road-based commercial tour CUA requirements and fees will vary from park to park. Please use the interactive map feature above to access individual park CUA webpages and learn about specific park requirements.

How does the National Park Service define a road-based commercial tour operator?

We define road-based commercial tours as one or more persons traveling by vehicle on an improved roadway on an itinerary that a company or individual has packaged and priced for leisure/recreational purposes. Road-based commercial tours generally provide no other visitor services except those incidental to road-based travel in an NPS unit (on-board interpretation and information, and incidental stops at visitor centers, restaurants, wayside exhibits, etc.). At the discretion of the park superintendent, however, road-based commercial tour CUAs may cover minor additional services such as guided day hiking.

Transportation-only services such as taxis, shuttles, and chartered motorcoach companies do not meet the definition of road-based commercial tours if those services are not prepackaged. Parks may issue these transportation-only providers a road-based transportation CUA if the park superintendent decides managing the use is necessary for preservation and proper management of park resources and values.

Who needs to acquire the road-based commercial tour CUA — the tour operator or the chartered motorcoach company?

The responsibility for obtaining a road-based commercial tour CUA will fall on the company that packaged, priced, and sold the tour. A chartered motorcoach company does not need a road-based commercial tour CUA if the tour company paying for charter service determines the origin, destination, and scheduling of the trip. A charter company advertising tours to national parks, however, meets the definition of road-based commercial tour and must have a road-based commercial tour CUA.

Parks may continue issuing chartered transportation providers a road-based transportation CUA if managing the use is necessary for preservation of park resources and values (e.g., limited or controlled parking availablity). When a tour company uses the services of a chartered transportation company with a road-based transportation CUA, the tour company does not need to secure a separate CUA unless the tour group disembarks from the vehicle while within the park.

How much are the standard road-based commercial tour CUA fees?

Application Fee

Road-based commercial tour operators will pay an annual $300 non-refundable CUA application fee for each submitted CUA application. 100% of collected CUA application fees stay within the collecting park and are used to recover the administrative costs of receiving, reviewing, and processing CUA applications and required reports. The NPS will adjust this application fee periodically to account for increased costs including inflation.

Management Fee

For operations in parks that collect an entrance fee, NPS will deduct a $5 per person CUA management fee from per-person entrance fees paid by road-based commercial tour CUA holders. Beginning October 1, 2019, road-based commercial tour operators will pay a per passenger entrance fee based upon the park-specific per-person entrance fee (XLSX, 13.7 KB). For operations occurring in parks without entrance fees, road-based commercial tour CUA holders will pay a $5 per person CUA management fee due upon submission of the required annual CUA report. 100% of collected CUA management fees stay within the collecting park unit and are used to recover day-to-day road-based commercial tour management and monitoring costs and to fund visitor experience improvement projects. NPS will adjust the management fee periodically to account for increased costs including inflation.

Additional road-based commercial tour Q&As may be downloaded here.

For more information on commercial services, visit NPS Concessions. For information about tourism in the National Parks, visit the National Tourism Program.