Visitor numbers down at Glacier National Park

National economy, fuel prices blamed, but Canadians are cushioning the fall

Glacier National Park visitation is down 8.6 percent for the first seven months of 2008, but tourism officials say the decline is less pronounced in the Flathead Valley and western Montana.

The park's visitor numbers through July were released this week by a National Park Service statistics office in Colorado. They are not considered absolute numbers, but because they are calculated in the same fashion from year-to-year, they are viewed as a reliable trend indicator.

With a drop of 2.5 percent for the month of July, the park has had 1,093,000 visitors this year, down 1,185,000 for the first seven months of 2007. The decline was sharpest in June, with 3.76 percent fewer visitors for the month and 14 percent fewer visitors for the first six months of the year.

"The one that impacted Glacier numbers in particular was that the opening of Going-to-the-Sun Road occurred later than usual," said Glacier Country Executive Director Racene Friede, referring to the July 2 opening of the road at Logan Pass.

But Friede and others concede that the struggling national economy and high fuel prices clearly had an effect on tourism in the region this year.

"Yes, you definitely have people who have been impacted by fuel prices and the economy," Friede said. But she said strong visitor traffic helped compensate for the decline in domestic travelers. For many Canadians, gas is cheaper in Montana, and a stronger Canadian dollar has increased their purchasing power in the U.S.

Dori Muehlhof, executive director of the Flathead Convention and Visitors Association, said she recently surveyed association members because many of them have been concerned about the effects of a weaker U.S. dollar and high gas prices.

"Those who replied back said that business as good or stronger than last year," she said, noting that the responses came from area lodges and attractions. "We're finding that the Canadian dollar is bringing a lot of Canadians down here and they are supplementing what [domestic travel] we may have lost."

Places such as Whitefish particularly have benefited from Canadian travelers, and also from events such as the fly-fishing convention held in the town last month, said Jan Metzmaker, executive director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"From what I hear from around town it's been very busy," she said.

"We were a little concerned about June when we saw that the park was down for that month," Metzmaker said. However, Whitefish's resort tax revenues for June turned out to be 4 percent higher compared to the same month last year.

Cindy Ognjanov, president of Glacier Park Inc., said she noticed signs of a visitor slowdown early on, in simple things such as available parking at the typically jam-packed Lake McDonald Lodge.

"I've been around for a long time and my gut tells me we haven't been as busy as we've normally been," she said.

There has been nearly full room occupancy at GPI's six historic park lodges this summer, but that doesn't tell the whole story, Ognjanov said.

"I can tell visitation is down even if the rooms are full," she said. "I only have 500 rooms inside the park and we get a lot more visitors than that."

Retail sales at gift shops and stores run by GPI declined "pretty significantly," she said, and food and beverage sales are also down. "It just tells us what I thought going into the year - that people will still go on vacation but they are just not going to spend as much."

The reason? "That's easy. It's the economy and gas prices," she said.

There are hopeful expectations for August and the fall shoulder season.

"Things look pretty good as far as advanced reservations," Ognjanov said, saying that there is typically considerable business in last-minute reservations during the weeks after school starts.

"Singles and people without kids can pick up and go a lot easier than people with children," she said.

Glacier Montana also is ramping up its marketing efforts in Canada, Friede said.

"Because of some of the indicators and things we are stepping it up considerably," she said.

Interestingly, visitor numbers at the West Glacier entrance to the park are down 11 percent through July, while the number of visitors entering at St. Mary are up 19 percent. There have been double-digit percentage declines at all six of the other park entrances.

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