![]() The year ended with Arches National Park implementing a timed entry ticket pilot program and Zion announcing a permit process to hike Angels Landing, both set to begin in the spring. We're not trying to drive people to our national parks because our national parks are now so famous people are drawn to having that experience. This has been true since the sudden rise of the parks' popularity over the past decade - the issue came to a head in 2021 because of the dramatic increase in park visitation from the previous year. The rise in visitors meant more people were enjoying Utah's national parks, but it also led to an uptick in resources needed to support the public lands. ![]() While 2021 produced an eye-popping leap from 2020 because there were no shutdowns and fewer COVID-19 concerns, 2021 also far exceeded the state's previous total park record of 10.6 million recorded in 2019. While Bryce Canyon National Park fell short of its visitation record, more than 2.1 million people visited the park last year - the second-most of the five parks and an increase of nearly 640,000 visitors from 2020. The park has averaged 162,000 December visitors in the previous five years however, it also reported a record 227,244 people visits in December 2020.Īrches (1.8 million), Canyonlands (over 911,000) and Capitol Reef (1.4 million) national parks also broke all-time visitation records in 2021. Recent visitor trends suggest that Zion will be close to that number. It needs a little over 172,000 to reach 5 million visitors for the year - a rare feat that only three national parks have ever reached. A spokesman for the park told KSL.com the park is still reviewing its numbers before it submits its final 2021 visitation statistics. The southern Utah nature preserve reported over 4.8 million visitors through November, besting its previous record of 4.5 million in 2017. Zion National Park again led all of Utah parks in visitation last year. Even so, visits to Utah's national parks jumped by at least 43% last year and Zion is one of the four parks that broke visitation records in 2021. The final 2021 visitation figure has yet to be calculated because Zion National Park has not submitted its December visitation. There were at least 11 million visitors at Utah's five national parks in 2021 - far exceeding the 7.7 million recorded visitors in 2020, a year when visitation plummeted as a result of pandemic-related park closures and travel restrictions. SALT LAKE CITY - If it felt like Utah's "Mighty 5" were more crowded than ever last year, that's because they were.Īll-time visitation records were broken at four of Utah's five national parks in 2021, according to preliminary data made available by the National Park Service. Reading or replaying the story in itsĪrchived form does not constitute a republication of the story. Only for your personal, non-commercial use.
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