Grand Teton National Park sees high annual attendance
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Grand Teton National Park stayed near its highest visitation levels in 2019, while Yellowstone National Park had its slowest tourism year since 2014, officials said.
Grand Teton's 2019 attendance trailed only 2018 for tourists visiting the park, The Jackson Hole News and Guide reported Thursday.
A Grand Teton park spokeswoman credited increased visits during historically slow shoulder seasons, the periods between peak and off-peak seasons.
Grand Teton attracted 3.4 million recreational visitors, a category excluding people who only passed through, such as commercial truckers, officials said.
July was Grand Teton's busiest month, with 776,000 visitors, while February, November and December saw fewer than 50,000 recreational visits each, officials said.
Yellowstone, also in Wyoming, attracted slightly more than 4 million recreational visitors last year, a 2.3% decrease since 2018 and 5.6% decrease from 2016, when the National Park Service saw an all-time peak during its centennial year, officials said.
The parks are about 30 miles apart in Wyoming.
"I don't know what to make of the difference between the two parks," Grand Teton spokeswoman Denise Germann said. "But I do believe our shoulder seasons are expanding a little bit. In 2019, we saw record visitation in both March and August."
