The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has seen decreases in visitation every month since the first of the year when compared to the same months in 2000.

Currently, visitation in the Park through June is 9 percent below 2000 due to consistent decreases recorded at the Park’s three main entrances and outlying areas.

“Notably, just about every entrance during each month so far this year recorded fewer travelers,” said Smokies Superinten-dent Michael Tollefson.

“As a consequence of a half year of negative numbers, the year-to-date travel to Park entrances is below 2000 levels.

“We cannot explain this drop in traffic. The Park had a fairly normal winter with few road closures and we have had no construction or other internal activities that might have caused visitors to shy away,” Tollefson said.

He also noted that camping in the Park is down by 14 percent for the year. So far in 2001, only 132,318 campers have spent a night in the Park’s backcountry and at its developed campgrounds, compared with 153,255 last year.

The total number of visitors January through June numbered 3,678,528, down from the 4,020,365 recorded in 2000. The largest yearly decrease came at the outlying entry points located throughout North Carolina and Tennessee. The outlying areas’ combined tally (809,440) showed a 22 percent drop and was followed by a 10 percent decline at the Townsend, Tenn., entrance (593,398 visits). Cherokee, NC, (885,935 visits) saw a 3 percent decline and the Gatlinburg, Tenn., gateway (1,389,755 visits) was down 2 percent for the year.

In June, the Park saw a 7 percent drop with 1,085,810 visitors. Preceding months also were in decline with January seeing a 4 percent decrease, February an 18 percent drop, March falling 11 percent, April showing a 3 percent drop, and May down 11 percent.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News