The Nationwide Park Service (NPS) lately printed its 2023 visitation numbers, revealing a rise of over 13 million guests from 2022. Throughout the 400 nationwide parks that counted guests final yr, 325.5 million complete recreation visits have been recorded, and on the prime of the listing was the Blue Ridge Parkway with 16.7 million distinctive visits.
“The Parkway’s location, design, and proximity to so many gateway communities present a big selection of wealthy pure, cultural, leisure, and historic experiences for park guests,” Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout said in a press launch. “Interesting to so many guests of so many various pursuits and skills is a trademark of the Parkway expertise throughout the a long time.”
Established in June of 1936, the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway travels by way of the 5 main mountain ranges as its hyperlinks Shenandoah and Nice Smoky Mountains Nationwide Parks. Parkway guests have been first tallied in 1941, when 895,874 individuals explored the scenic roadway. The numbers from 2023 mark the Blue Ridge Parkway’s second yr because the nation’s top-visited nationwide park, with a rise of 1 million guests from 2022.
“The Blue Ridge Parkway, not like most nationwide park areas, is a deliberate panorama—deliberate right down to the smallest element in ways in which most guests don’t discover at first look,” NPS states on its web site. “Panorama architects and engineers dovetailed their expertise and artistic genius for the good thing about the hundreds of thousands who’ve loved this drive for greater than eight a long time.”
In response to the NPS, visitation at many parks has been affected by pure disasters and more and more extreme climate, although numbers are growing total. The 2023 information additionally revealed a rise in low season visitation together with record-high visitation numbers for 20 lesser-known parks, together with New River Gorge Nationwide Park & Protect in West Virginia and Congaree Nationwide Park in South Carolina.
“Parks are attracting extra guests every year to find out about our shared historical past,” Nationwide Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in a press launch. “Our nationwide parks inform our shared American story.”
Cowl picture: Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina courtesy of Getty Pictures
