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NPS Alaska Sets Visitation Record in 2005
National Park Service units in Alaska hosted a record number of
visits in 2005, with more than 2.35 million people counted at 15
locations across the state. The number was up about 60,000 from
2004, the previous record year.
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway was again
the most-visited NPS unit in Alaska with 888,255 visits, up about
44,632 from 2004. The park's visitation is driven largely by cruise
ship passenger traffic, although hikers on the historic Chilkoot
Trail and independent travelers add several thousand visits to the
park's total. Kenai Fjords NP also had a significant increase, with
visitation reaching 258,297 in 2005, up about 14,000 from the previous
year. And Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve registered more
than 8,500 more visits than in 2004, to a total of 12,784. The increase
is due to a change in counting practices which now takes into account
traffic to the unit's visitor center in Eagle.
"Our visitation numbers show growth that's similar to the
visitor industry in Alaska," said NPS Regional Director Marcia
Blaszak. "Visitors to Alaska want to see wildlife, mountains,
glaciers and a unique part of America's history. National parks
offer all of those."
Improvements in visitor facilities are continuing, Blaszak noted.
The Eielson Visitor Center at Denali is being rebuilt and will open
in 2008. The park's entrance area visitor center opened in 2005;
Denali's visitation in 2005 was even with 2004. Construction has
begun on a new visitor center in Kotzebue, the home for the three
units that make up the Western Arctic Parklands. And land acquisition
was completed in 2005 for a new visitor center in Seward which will
serve Kenai Fjords National Park and other agencies.
"We're looking forward to another solid year of visitation
in parks in 2006," Blaszak said. "We've joined with the
Alaska Travel Industry Association to do some marketing of our lesser
visited parks, and we think that will begin to show results in 2006
and in the years to come.
National Park Service visitation statistics nationwide are available
on-line at http://www2.nature.nps.gov/stats/.
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Author:Jane
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Last modified on: April 18, 2003
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