News Release

325.5 million visits to national parks in 2023, 2.9 million visits to Olympic National Park

Date: February 27, 2024
Contact: Public Affairs Office, 360-565-3005

Port Angeles, Wash. – On February 22, the National Park Service announced that 400 national parks reported a total of 325.5 million visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022.   

Olympic National Park's mossy forests, rugged peaks, and wild coastlines hosted 2.9 million recreation visits in 2023. With half a million more visits than in 2022, Olympic National Park became the 10th most visited national park. Visitation increased in spite of the loss of one of the most visited sites, the Hurricane Ridge Day Lodge. 

“Serving nearly 3 million visitors is a team effort, especially when we lose facilities” said Superintendent Sula Jacobs. “We appreciate the support of our partners and community members and cannot wait to share the wonders of Olympic with everyone in 2024.”   

Visitation figures and trends guide how the National Park Service manages parks to ensure the best experience possible for park visitors. The Visitation Statistics Dashboard provides recreational visit statistics for every park in the US for 2023 and also for previous years, dating back to 1979 for some parks. There are 429 parks in the National Park System, and 400 parks counted visitors in 2023. For the first time, there are now parks reporting their visitation numbers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four US territories. Five national parks began reporting in 2023, and this is the first year a park from Delaware is included.