Are We In For a Busy Tourist Season at Yellowstone? Yup, No Doubt

We might be in for an even busier season this upcoming summer, and it might be a problem for all of us. 

MSN published a report about the Most Visited National Parks in 2021, and Yellowstone National Park landed in the top three. Yellowstone National Park was the third most visited park with just under 4.9 million visitors, and it's no surprise.

Ever since the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 locked down travel, national parks have seen a massive rise in visitors, and Yellowstone National Park is no exception. Attendance at Yellowstone National Park had been trending downwards, but in 2021 there was a rise in over one million visitors from 2020. 

Even Glacier National Park landed in the top ten after being closed the whole year in 2020. So what does that mean for 2022? 

Well, with both Glacier and Yellowstone National Park planning on making improvements for visitors in the coming future, we will be seeing an uptick in visitors. 

The real question is, how many visitors can Montana's national parks truly handle? The number of visitors last year was insane for the thinly stretched park staff in 2021. Yellowstone is building new staff housing to help bring in more staff, but what about campgrounds and places to stay for visitors? There is only so much space. 

So is there a way for Yellowstone to cap how many people they can handle in the park? If so, what is that number? Listen, dealing with tourists is a normal thing here in Bozeman but if we want to keep our most beautiful spots scenic and special, the national park system should think about this. 

For more details, check out MSN.