The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is continuing to record declines in visitation.

The park recorded 8,853,890 visits from January through November 2001, a 9-percent decrease from 2000 figures which saw 9,758,731 visits during the same period. October and November contributed to this decline by recording a decline of 9 and 11 percent, respectively.

Even though good leaf color was predicted and fair weather and temperatures in October 2001 provided fall leaf seekers with prime conditions, fewer visits were recorded. All entrances were below October 2000 except for the outlying areas which registered a 6-percent rise. Gatlinburg showed the largest decrease at 23 percent, followed by Cherokee with a 6-percent drop and Townsend, Tenn., with a 3-percent drop. All of October saw just over a million visits at 1,095,602.

November saw mostly sunny skies and daily high temperature ranging in the 60s and 70s, yet November visitation was down 11 percent. The closure of Newfound Gap Road to through travel for tunnel construction during the last week in November probably had an impact, park officials say. While Gatlinburg’s gateway saw a 19-percent drop, the other main entrance in Tennessee at Townsend was up by 10 percent. In addition, Cherokee entries also showed a 7 percent rise. But the 10 outlying areas’ combined tally declined by 24 percent.

Park officials do dot have a general explanation for the continued decreases in park visitation throughout the year. Managers suspect that there are most likely a variety of factors that played a role in the declines during the year, starting with the fact that 2000 was a very strong year with 10.2 million visits. National occurrences such as higher gas prices during the earlier part of the year probably also played a role.