Glacier Park visitation up 15 percent

The Daily Inter Lake

Glacier National Park visitation continues to be up substantially over last year, with the park drawing 15.2 percent more people this July compared to the same month a year ago.

During July, Glacier attracted 603,681 visitors, compared to 523,881 a year ago.

That number follows a similar increase in June, bringing the total number of Glacier visitors for the first seven months of the year to 1.09 million, a 14.8 percent increase over the 947,763 recorded during the same period last year.

The park's 2008 visitor statistics were down from the previous year, a change that state tourism officials partly attributed to unprecedented high gas prices that exceeded $4 per gallon.

This summer's lower gas prices may be making a difference. The number of recreational-vehicle overnight stays in the park, for example, is 27.6 percent higher in 2009 than through the first seven months of 2008.

During July, Glacier had a 21-percent increase in visitors through its Camas entrance and a 25 percent increase through its Many Glacier entrance.

The park entrance at West Glacier is the busiest with 266,796 visitors, a 14.7 percent increase over last July's traffic. The St. Mary entrance had 159,603 visitors, a 16.8 percent increase over last July.

Glacier is not alone: The Associated Press reported Monday that business is up at national parks across the country this year.

The National Park Service announced there were 127.7 million visitors to national parks in the first six months of the year, an increase of about 4.5 million over the same period in 2008. In June alone, visits increased by more than 700,000.

National Park Service officials partly credit the boosted numbers to "fee-free weekends' offered this summer to encourage visitation. Glacier has several free weekends scheduled this summer.