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Use of Arkansas State parks is rapidly rising while visitation to National
Parks continues to decline. Clearly the usual explanations given for falling
National Park visitation (911, weather, gas prices, video gaming, phases of the
moon, etc...) do not apply . Yet there must be an explanation for both
observations. What could it possibly be!?
Here's something to consider. Since 2001, most National Parks have
increased entrance fees anywhere from 100 to 500 percent. As best as I can
determine, Arkansas parks still do not charge entrance fees. They tried very
briefly back in the early 90s, and here's what they discovered:
http://www.regulationmagazine.org/pubs/pas/pa-276.html
[Several states, including Iowa and Arkansas, reported that attempts to charge park entrance fees met with such public opposition that they were discontinued.]
Scott
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http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=5356155&nav=0jsh
SEPTEMBER 1, 2006
Use of State Parks Rises as Visits to National Park Drop
LITTLE ROCK, AR - State figures show the number of people visiting
Arkansas' state parks has risen by 19.5 percent since 2001, even as
visitation to national parks declines around the country.
Visitation is tracked at 42 state parks out of 51 parks altogether. At
those parks, the numbers of visitors rose from about 8.6 million in
2001 to nearly 10.3 million people last year. The National Park
Service has seen its visitation total drop about 4.8 percent since 1999.
Joe Jacobs, director of marketing and revenue for the Arkansas Division
of State Parks, says expensive gasoline could be fueling the rise in
visitors. He says records at parks with lodges, like Petit Jean atop
the mountain of the same name in central Arkansas, or DeGray on the
lake by that name in southwest Arkansas, show that they attract not
only Arkansans but also Oklahomans, Texans and Missourians. Jacobs
said Arkansas parks get a lot of business from states adjacent to
Arkansas because people aren't traveling as far as they may have in the
past.
But he said fuel prices are probably not the only factor boosting
visitor numbers to state parks. He cited revamped marketing strategies
and renovated facilities that also could account for the rise.
According to Jacobs, visitors are, "very much wowed" by what they find
when they visit an Arkansas park for the first time, and many of them
come back.
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