DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s favorite national park still hasn’t recovered from COVID, and in fact had fewer visitors last summer than in the summer of 2021.
The state is either experiencing a downturn in its typical national park interest, or it is seeing some impact from the timed entry system it put in place in 2021 to ease congestion.
Under the timed permit system, park visitors need to reserve time rather than simply entering the park at will. The system will continue into 2023.
National parks attendance cratered in April 2020. Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park’s recreational visitations dropped by 30% from 2019 to 2020.
It still hasn’t fully recovered, even as formerly COVID-bound mountaineers and hikers return. There were 4.7 million visitors to the park through 2019, the most of any year on record. Through November 2022, there had only been 4.2 million.
This is the third year running that the park’s attendance has failed to reach pre-pandemic levels. The number of visitors keeps going down, however. At 4.2 million, the preliminary 2022 total for RMNP visitors is lower than in 2021.
Visitors typically flock to the park in the summer months, but that didn’t happen in 2022.
June, July and August each had fewer visitors than in the same months in 2021.