NPS - National Park Service
02/22/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/23/2024 12:35
Kenai Fjords National Park Annual Visitation Release
Date:
February 22, 2024
February 22, 2024
325.5 million Visits to National Parks in 2023, 387,525 Visits at Kenai Fjords National Park
Seward, AK-Today, the National Park Service announced that 400 national parks reported a total of 325.5 million visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022.
At Kenai Fjords National Park, 2023 marks our third highest visitation on record with 389,525 visitors. The park's highest visitation on record was in 2021, with 411,782 visitors.
Total vehicle traffic to Exit Glacier developed area slightly decreased, while the number of buses and campers has increased, from 2022.
In 2023, both the Visitor Center and the Nature Center were open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day since a reduction in staffing and services due to COVID-19 mitigations. Resulting in an increase in attendance to Park Ranger led programs and Junior Ranger Badges earned.
Visitation figures and trends guide how the National Park Service manages parks to ensure the best experience possible for park visitors. The Visitation Statistics Dashboard provides recreational visit statistics for every park in the US for 2023 and also for previous years, dating back to 1979 for some parks. There are 429 parks in the National Park System, and 400 parks counted visitors in 2023. For the first time, there are now parks reporting their visitation numbers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four US territories. Five national parks began reporting in 2023, and this is the first year a park from Delaware is included.
About the National Park Service: More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 429 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.