ST. GEORGE — Visitation to Utah’s “Mighty 5” appears to be stabilizing after a rapid decline in 2020 and an uptick in 2021 tied to the pandemic. But one other park in the state bucked all the trends last year.
A little more than 10.6 million people visited Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef and Zion national parks in 2023, representing an increase of nearly 1% from the previous year, per recently updated National Park Service visitation data. Last year’s total also finished slightly below the 10.7 million visitors recorded in 2019.
Three of the five national parks did experience year-over-year growth, though none of the parks broke any visitation records like what happened at four of the five parks in 2021. A record 11.3 million visited the park during a “revenge travel” surge as pandemic-era restrictions were lifted, a 45% increase from figures posted in 2020.
Ultimately, Glen Canyon Recreational Area, located along the Utah-Arizona border, led in visitation among all National Park Service entities in Utah last year, bringing in a record 5.2 million visitors. Its visitation surged by a whopping 83% over 2022 visitation figures, and it bested Zion National Park’s total by close to 600,000 visitors.
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Written by CARTER WILLIAMS, KSL.com.
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