Yellowstone National Park marked a record three million visits in the first eight months of 2015. With four months left in the calendar year, the park is on track to have one of its highest visitation years on record.

Yellowstone hosted a total of 854,409 recreational visits in August, an increase of 10.48% compared to August 2014 numbers.

A total of 3,133,965 recreational visits in the first eight months of 2015 is 15.34% over 2014.

Each of the park’s five entrances show an increase in vehicles for the month of August compared to 2014 levels.

“We have been surprised by the size of the increase this year,” says Dan Wenk, Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park. “We will be looking at what this means for the future and what we can do to improve visitor experiences while still protecting park resources.”

While many factors are at play, park managers point to the National Park Service’s “Find Your Park” public awareness campaign, lower gas prices, and tourism promotions by the states of Montana and Wyoming as possible influences in the record number of visits to Yellowstone this year.

Recreational Visits 2015        2014         Change

January                  28,091      26,778      + 8.42 %

February                34,343      28,233      + 21.64 %

March                    22,989      18,778       + 22.43 %

April                      46,600        31,356      + 48.61 %

May                     383,670       310,039     + 23.75 %

June                    780,768       669,642     + 16.59 %

July                      980,702       858,857     + 14.19 %

August                 854,409       773,357     + 10.48 %

 

Total Year-To-Date 3,133,965 2,717,040 + 15.34 %

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