Yellowstone seeing record visitors this year

Yellowstone seeing record visitors this year

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Yellowstone National Park hosted a record number of visitors this summer and remains on track for its busiest year ever.

Park officials said that nearly 2.3 million people visited Yellowstone in June, July and August. That’s up about 5 percent from the previous summer high set in 1999.

August visitors were up 3 percent over last year to nearly 753,000 visitors.

For the year, more than 2.6 million people have visited the park, making the first eight months of 2009 the busiest January through August in the park’s history.

Park officials attribute the large number of visitors this year to factors like good weather, a drop in gas prices and the travelers’ ability to tailor a Yellowstone trip to their budgets.

For details on visiting the park, go to www.nps.gov/yell.