Yellowstone National Park hosted 1,080,767 recreation visits in July 2021, the National Parks Service reported, making it the most-visited July on record.
Visitation totals are a 13% increase from July 2020 (955,645 recreational visits) and a 15% increase from July 2019 (936,062 recreation visits).
The July visitor totals also marked the most-visited month on record in Yellowstone’s history and the first-time visitation exceeded 1 million visits in any single month.
In 2021, the park has hosted 2,668,765 recreation visits, up 16% from 2019. Year-to-date, 2021 outpaced any year since 2016:
- 2021 – 2,668,765
- 2020 – 1,674,699
- 2019 – 2,294,691
- 2018 – 2,322,271
- 2017 – 2,316,541
- 2016 – 2,427,988
“Increases to Yellowstone’s visitation have accelerated rapidly over the past 12 months and we continue to be on pace to set record numbers for 2021,” Superintendent Cam Sholly said. “We are actively developing defensible short and long-term solutions, with our partners, which focus on protection of park resources, improving visitor experience, and considering impacts on park staffing, infrastructure and our gateway communities and regional economies.”
Yellowstone’s road corridors and parking areas equate to less than 1,500 acres of the park’s 2.2 million acres. Most visitors stay within a half mile of these corridors. As such, the park is focused on the most heavily congested areas: Old Faithful, Midway Geyser Basin, Norris, Canyon rims and Lamar Valley.
