Glacier visitors top 2 million

Glacier National Park closed out last year with more than 2 million visitors, making it one of the busiest of the last decade.

The National Park Services statistics office in Denver reports that Glacier had 2,031,347 visitors in 2009, a 12.4 percent increase over the 1,808,027 visitors in 2008.

Since 1995, Glacier has broken the 2 million mark for visitation only two other years, in 2007 and 2004.

Glacier had more visitors at every entrance compared to 2008, but with substantial increases of 29 percent at Many Glacier, 13 percent at St. Mary and 10 percent at West Glacier.

Total overnight stays increased by 15 percent, including a 52 percent increase in backcountry overnight stays and 29 percent in recreational vehicle stays.

Last year’s increase in park visitors parallels efforts by the state of Montana and local tourism groups to lure geotourists to the state. Geotourism, a fairly new buzz word in the industry, is tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place and its environment, heritage, aesthetics and culture.

The wide-open vistas of Glacier National Park were a perfect backdrop for  a campaign launched in February 2009 by Travel Montana that targets congestion-weary travelers with the message: “Montana. There’s nothing here.”

“The whole branding of the state is all based on the geotourism concept,” said Lisa Jones, a Whitefish public-relations specialist who is involved in tourism promotion.

The Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau and other tourism organizations closely study the types of people who are attracted to places such as Glacier Park.

“We’ve been pretty effective at bringing in the types of people” such as empty nesters and retired professionals who have money to spend and time to spend it, WCVB Executive Director Jan Metzmaker said.

The geotraveler profile includes visitors with a college education and above, a $75,000 or better household income, in the 45 to 54 age group taking three or more leisure trips a year. They also enjoy rigorous outdoor activities, according to Travel Montana.