Yellowstone Prevails Over Soft Economy

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By Kyle Midura

Story Published: Jul 27, 2010 at 6:33 PM MDT

Story Updated: Jul 28, 2010 at 2:53 PM MDT

WEST YELLOWSTONE - In 2009, Yellowstone National Park shattered visitation records, and park officials say 2010 will be another banner year.

Even with the down economy, Yellowstone visitation has been as steady as Old Faithful, but outside the park there's some cause for concern.

"I just like nature, we're a nature family," said camper Tsosie Hostenez, "last year [2009] we asked our kids where they wanted to go and they wanted to go to Yellowstone." Hostenez and his family aren't alone.

"Our visitation grows every year," said Jim Evanoff with Yellowstone National Park, "last year [2009] we broke all visitation records with over 3.3 million visitors entering into Yellowstone."

"So far we're seeing above that," said Lindy Allen, a spokesperson for the park, "so we're not sure what it's going to end up being, it could be 3.6 or more but it's definitely going to be a record breaking year."

Park staff see long lines every day, and campsites are booked through Labor Day. The director of the National Park Service said we all benefit from increased visitation. The national park system contributed over $12 Billion in 2009 to this country's economy.

"These times we're indeed blessed to have the park system that we have," said Joe Biden at an address on Monday.

For hotels outside the park it's a similar story. Supplementary sales in the park are back up after a slow 2009, but business isn't taking flight in every industry.

"I've been in this store for 26 years" said the Yellowstone T-Shirt Company's Mary Vaessen, "summers have been very well, winters they've gone way down."

Locals said restaurants have seen a drop in revenue, as campers turn to grocery stores instead. "A lot more people are bringing their lunches I think," said Vaessen. "There's anecdotal reports from the concessions here in the park that people seem to be more frugal with their discretionary spending," said Allen, "but there's no firm reports."

Yellowstone welcomed 280,000 visitors in June. That's up nearly 8% over 2009's record breaking June.

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