DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado’s most popular national park has still not recovered the number of visitors it had at the end of the last decade.
Park attendance fell across all U.S. National Parks Service areas in April 2020, when the service canceled all park attendance. COVID pandemic restrictions thinned out the crowds throughout 2020, and they have still not bounced back to their record highs from 2019.
In fact, Rocky Mountain National Park visitations have been sliding annually, according to federal records.
There were 4.3 million recreational visitors to Rocky Mountain National Park last year. This is not only the lowest park turnout since 2016, but lower even than in 2021 after the parks service lifted restrictions.
The park’s attendance had reached record levels before the onset of the COVID pandemic along with Colorado’s population boom. Prior to the mid-2010s, attendance had rarely exceeded 3 million recreational visitors a year. From 2014 to 2019, attendance swelled by 38%.
Park attendance has not only dropped annually, but among peak months.
Typically, Rocky Mountain National Park has the most visitors in July of any given year. Last July, the park’s attendance fell 31% from July 2021. July 2021’s visitations had fallen 25% from July 2019.