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SALT LAKE CITY — The United States National Park Service was established in 1916 with the dual mission to conserve designated sites, and make them widely accessible to the public. Balancing both sides of that effort has been a struggle this past decade as visitor numbers climbed to record levels year after year at many parks.
That upward trend was put on pause by pandemic restrictions in 2020 that limited the number of park visitors. But new data from the National Park Service shows that visitors were eager to come back the following year. More than 92 million people came to the nation's 63 national parks in 2021, which was more than any year before and 34% more than 10 years prior.
Utah's national parks saw an even more dramatic surge. Four of Utah's five parks saw record numbers in 2021, and in all, the five parks had more than 11 million visitors in 2021. That amounts to a 79% increase compared to 2011. Capitol Reef saw the biggest increase during that period, at 110% — more than doubling its previous guest list.
While Zion once again had more visitors than any of Utah's national parks in 2021, its close neighbor (and Utah's smallest national park) Bryce Canyon had the most visitors per federal acre at 59, making it the most crowded by that metric. In contrast, Canyonlands is Utah's largest and least crowded park, with three visitors per acre in 2021.
A combination of contributing factors
It's not entirely coincidental that the number of park visitors across the country began rising more dramatically 100 years after the park service was organized. The park service commemorated its centennial with various promotions and many states used that as an opportunity to draw in the tourists. Utah's Office of Tourism got ahead of the wave in 2013 by launching the $3.1 million "Mighty Five" marketing campaign that reached out to neighboring states with impressive ads to entice tourists.
According to a recent study by a team of economists at Utah State University, the Mighty Five campaign was directly responsible for bringing more visitors to Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, and to a lesser extent, Arches. But for Zion and Bryce Canyon, the researchers attributed broader national trends to the surge of visitors at those parks. In other words, "the marketing campaign had uneven effects across the five national parks," the researchers reported.
Given that many tourists are aware of the crowds at the more popular parks, this finding wasn't entirely unexpected, said study author and professor Paul Jakus. "That didn't surprise me that it was uneven, and we would see the strongest effects in the least visited parks," Jakus told KSL.com. "Because clearly those are places people have not necessarily been to."
Beyond tourism marketing, the National Park Service also attributes the increase in park visitors to a corresponding increase of Americans who are hitting retirement age. During the last decade, the fraction of people 65 and over increased by about 34% according to the U.S. Census Bureau, producing a trendline that resembles visitor numbers. International travel has also been on the rise. For foreign tourists on holiday and retirees alike, a national park visit often ranks high on their bucket list.
The virality of social media in combination with the ubiquity of information has also played a big role in attracting visitors, the park service states. Nearly every visitor carries a phone equipped with a high-resolution camera, GPS and various apps for trail finding and travel. Thanks to the modern digital age, the ancient natural wonders that were once hidden have never been more visible and accessible.
A new approach at Arches
Whatever the causes may be, parks are trying new ways to prevent visitors from flooding popular sites. Beginning earlier this month, through Oct. 3, Arches will be testing a pilot Timed Entry Reservation program that requires most visitors to make reservations for a limited number of spots at designated times throughout the day. Zion has tried something similar for its most popular hikes, too. Ideally, this approach will produce a more percolated stream of hikers along the red rock slopes.
"So far I think the timed entry system is working well for Arches National Park", said Zach Cooley, a photographer who lives in Moab and works in the surrounding area. "It has already shown to be effective in managing the crowds. That said, I do imagine that there are people that are having to enter the park later on in the day than desired, so they don't have as much time to explore."
To get an idea of how the program could affect the number of visitors to Arches this year, Jakus suggests looking at Muir Woods National Monument in California, where a similar system has been in place. "Overall visitation at Muir Woods went down starting in 2018, which is the first year they had the reservation system," he pointed out. "That's kind of what I would expect to happen with Arches."
Data and input from the timed entry program this year will inform how Arches, and perhaps other parks, will manage crowds going forward. It is a compromise, but hopefully one that will enable the National Park Service to fulfill both parts of its mission.
Correction: This article previously stated the Arches National Park timed entry reservation continues through Sept. 3. It continues through Oct. 3.
