More than a few travelers are going great distances to visit national parks, such as Yellowstone, despite the spread of Covid-19/U.S. Travel Association and Rove
Concerns about catching Covid-19 during cross-country travel don't seem to have left national parks to the locals. While overall visitation to many parks is lower than usual for this time of year, statistics provided to the U.S. Travel Association show many people are traveling hundreds of miles across state lines to visit the parks.
The lure of summer travel, and the fresh air of national parks, no doubt is motivating many of these long-distance travelers.
In the case of Yellowstone National Park, 91 percent of its tourists drove more than 200 miles to visit the park since it reopened in May, according to the Travel Association. Many of those traveling more than 200 miles were coming from Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, and Los Angeles, according to the report.
The association received the data from Rove, a tourism consulting firm that bases its numbers by sampling mobile phones whose users opted in to be tracked.
Grand Teton National Park just south of Yellowstone saw 84 percent of its visitors drive more than 200 miles, many of them also coming from Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
More than 78 percent of the visitors to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park drove more than 200 miles from places such as Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Dallas-Fort Worth, and 45 percent of those who traveled to Olympic National Park in Washington state came more than 200 miles. Residents of Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, and Chicago were among those who traveled more than 200 miles to Olympic.
While most of the tourism to Acadia National Park in Maine reflected locals within 100 miles of the park making the journey, 37 percent of the total came from more than 200 miles away.
According to Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, among the top 50 counties in the United States by caseloads are Los Angeles County (No. 1), Cook County, Illinois (No. 2), and Maricopa, Arizona (No. 3).
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What's interesting is that winter travel was riddled with high risk international tourists in snowcoaches. There weren't any tests in West Yellowstone until the sewer tested positive for it. Guides bringing up issues with Delaware North were fired and the NLRB brought 11 charges against Delaware North for their actions. They contribute to most major media outlets, contribute to political candidates, and are a repeat offender after trademarking the naming rights to Yosemite. We are living in a society of secrets for maximum profitability, and the paper tiger will do nothing to uphold tradition and honor.