Yellowstone visitation this October falls short of 2020

YELLOWSTONE PUBLIC AFFAIRS

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS – Yellowstone National Park hosted 316,662 recreation visits in October 2021, down 12 percent from October 2020 (359,889 visits), which was the busiest October on record.

Recreation visits this October were up 85 percent from October 2019 (171,339 visits). Several short-term, weather-related road closures likely impacted visitation in 2019.

So far in 2021, the park has hosted 4,789,644 recreation visits, up 28 percent from the same period last year, and up 20 percent from 2019.  

The list below shows the year-to-date trend for recreation visits over the last several years (through October):

2021 – 4,789,644

2020 – 3,753,531*

2019 – 3,979,154

2018 – 4,078,771

2017 – 4,084,762

2016 – 4,212,782

More data on park visitation, including how we calculate these numbers, is available on the NPS Stats website.

Editor’s note: *The park was closed March 24-May 18, 2020, due to COVID-19. Two entrances were open May 18-31 and the remaining three opened on June 1.