Early rush of park visitors tapers off: 'It was kind of like a faucet turned off'

Glacier National Park's late-summer and fall visitation dropped off sharply, a

statistical shift linked to higher gas prices, hurricanes and foul local weather.

Glacier National Park's late-summer and fall visitation dropped off sharply, a statistical shift linked to higher gas prices, hurricanes and foul local weather.

The park's visitor count was down 6.67 percent for September and 16.82 percent in August compared to the same two months last year. As a result, total visitation through September was 4.24 percent lower than it was for the first nine months of 2004.

The tourism decline came on the heels of a strong summer opening for businesses in and around Glacier, said Linda Anderson, executive director of Glacier Country, an organization that works to promote tourism in Northwest Montana.

"Everybody said they had a very good early summer," Anderson said.

The early rush was partly driven by a mid-May opening of Glacier's Going-to-the-Sun Road. Park officials and hotels and lodges across much of the region also reported that visitors were also staying longer than normal.

But there was a turning point at about Aug. 20, Anderson said.

"We started to hear from a number of properties around the park and along Interstate 90 that their reservations were dropping off," Anderson said. "And that's when the price of gas started to inch its way up."

By the end of the month, a succession of hurricanes was battering the Gulf Coast, affecting fuel refineries, deliveries and prices.

"It was kind of like a faucet turned off," Anderson said in describing the sharp decline in tourism.

"Meetings and conventions continued, but the average visitor in the car really sort of disappeared," she said.

The back-to-school evaporation of families with children played its usual role in curbing discretionary travel, Anderson said. But heavy rains and foul weather that caused a protracted closure on Sun Road's alpine stretch at the end of September also discouraged travel in the park.

Yellowstone National Park's visitation also dropped off at the end of the summer. Yellowstone reported a 1.14 percent decline in August and a 3.19 percent decline in September, combining to drop the park's overall visitation by 1 percent for the first nine months of the year.

While Yellowstone's percentage decline is less than Glacier's, Yellowstone has far more visitors, about 3.4 million compared to Glacier's 1.8 million, for the first nine months of this year.

High gas prices are expected to have a widespread and lasting effect.

Nationwide "leisure travel" is expected to decline by 1.6 percent through November, according to the National Travel Association of America.

"The combination of soaring gas prices, Hurricane Katrina, a weak job outlook and shaky consumer confidence set the tone for a relatively weak fall travel season," said Dr. Suzanne Cook, the association's senior vice president of research. "However, despite the small dip in fall travel volume, it remains at one of its highest points. The fact that we were able to sustain the record level of travel seen last fall is good news for the industry."

Anderson, who sits on the association's board of directors, said Glacier Country is working on cooperative marketing plans that showcase Glacier and Yellowstone national parks.

The two-park marketing scheme has been sidelined for several years by state tourism officials who have concentrated their efforts and funding on the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, Anderson said.

That has created an additional challenge in Glacier Country marketing that needs to be developed far in advance of a travel season, she said.

Glacier Country has recently been working with the Public Broadcasting System's "Weekend Explorer" travel program on a production that features Glacier Park, Flathead Lake and the Missoula area. There will be additional filming this winter on Big Mountain for a program that will be broadcast in the spring.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.