(NPS.gov/Peg Broadcasting News)
In spite of a 46-day, full park closure this spring and partial closures through August due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park had 12,095,720 visits. This marks the second time in park history that visitation exceeded 12 million visits.
Between June and December, when most park roads were open, the park had one million more visits than experienced during this same time period in 2019 and 2.3 million more visits than the ten-year average for this time period. The park set individual monthly visitation records for each month August through December. Roads, trails, frontcountry campgrounds, and backcountry campsites were all busier than normal. Following the reopening of all frontcountry campgrounds in September, use increased more than 33% for the remainder of the year over the same time period in 2019. In the backcountry, camping increased 47% for the same time period between June and December in 2019.
This surge in use follows a 20-year trend of increasing visitation in the Smokies.