Tourism on the Rise in Most Parks in 2024, Some Trends Change

The tourist season is around the corner in Southern Utah. For Piute, Wayne, and Garfield county business owners or curious locals wishing to stay informed on the tourism crowds, here are last year’s visitation stats.

National Parks: Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef

There are three — of Utah’s “Mighty 5” — national parks within Wayne and Garfield counties’ borders. They are Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef. All three national parks, and their communities, took a hit in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic slashed visitation numbers by almost half.

Bryce Canyon, specifically, has had a somewhat slow recovery after the pandemic. Most parks got a slight bump above average the following year when people resumed travel. Not so for Bryce Canyon, in Garfield County, which in 2021 still had some of its worst visitation compared to the past decade, especially that summer.

From the recent stats, though, it seems like Bryce Canyon is finally starting to get back on its feet, or flip on its head.

Bryce Canyon’s summers have still never quite been the same. July, normally the peak month of the tourist season, brought 100 thousand fewer tourists last year than in 2018. Meanwhile, Bryce Canyon’s winters have increased in popularity. Last December, the park received about 20 thousand more visitors than in 2018. And this year, Bryce Canyon had its busiest January on record.

Bryce Canyon received almost 2.5 million visitors in 2024.

Canyonlands, whose area is shared by four Southern Utah counties, has received steadily rising amounts of visitation since 2022. Excluding the previous two years, its visitor distribution has not changed a whole lot. January, though, has been more unpredictable over the past few years.

Canyonlands received around 800 thousand visitors in 2024.

Of the three parks, Capitol Reef, in Wayne County, was the only one to receive its highest visitation last year. In fact, the park’s visitation grew by about 12 percent from the year before, and even beat its bump from 2021 when travel statistics naturally increased. Its top month was May, with about 200 thousand. And every month except for June beat its numbers from the previous year.

January this year, however, was not quite so good in Capitol Reef, falling behind the 2024 numbers by over three thousand.

Capitol Reef received 1.4 million visitors in 2024.

State Parks: Piute, Goblin Valley, Kodachrome, Otter Creek, Anasazi, Petrified Forest

There are six state parks inside, or in close proximity to, Piute, Wayne, and Garfield counties, bringing tourism to the area. They are Piute (Piute); Goblin Valley (Emery); Kodachrome Basin (Kane); and Otter Creek, Anasazi, and Petrified Forest (Garfield).

Goblin Valley State Park, whose nearest town is Hanksville, got the most visitors last year at a little over 500 thousand. The park also expanded in 2022 to nearly triple its size, taking in surrounding federal public land in a deal with BLM.

Escalante Petrified Forest and Kodachome Basin were both in the 100 thousands, followed by Otter Creek at 52 thousand, Piute at two thousand, and then Anasazi State Park at almost 800.

Anasazi usually gets around 19 thousand visitors. Unfortunately, the museum exhibits were closed all last year for renovations, “briefly [dimming] the spotlight on the cultural gem,” wrote Utah State Parks.

Another tourist draw in the Escalante area, Calf Creek, was also closed for renovations last year between July and October. Calf Creek is on BLM land.

Looking Ahead

With high recovery rates and improving infrastructure, it seems as though state and national park tourism in Southern Utah will continue to grow. If the growth continues at the rate it has been for the past two years, Bryce Canyon could be receiving three million visitors a year by 2030. Canyonlands, 950 thousand; and Capitol Reef 2.2 million.

Importantly, growing visitation does not always transfer to heightening economic impact. The short-term rental market is saturated in almost the entire state of Utah. And both hotel and short-term rental occupancy is actually down in most counties.

Looking ahead Piute, Wayne, and Garfield counties can likely expect more national and state park tourism. But changing trends and market capacity might require them to get creative in how they use it.

– by Abbie Call

Feature image caption: A tourist driving in Capitol Reef National Park on February 8, 2012. The park is mostly confined to Wayne County but its borders also cross into Garfield, Emery, and Sevier counties.

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