Glacier Park visitation down 21 percent

Glacier National Park has seen a very slow start to its summer tourist season. Visitation in June was down 21 percent compared to last year. According to recently released statistics, about 266,000 people visited the Park this June, compared to 337,120 last year. The last time June visitor numbers were lower was in 2002, when the Park saw 225,000 visits.

Year-to-date, the Park has seen 408,847 visitors, while last year at this time 503,010 visitors came to the Park. While those numbers are estimates based on the number of cars that go through the gates, harder numbers from activities such as camping, where people are actually counted, also were down sharply.

Concession lodging was down 31 percent, tent overnight stays were down 34.4 percent, and RV overnight stays were down 36.6 percent. Backcountry use was also down 36.6 percent, as many Park campgrounds remain under snow or are inaccessible because of high water.

A record snowpack accumulated in the Park over the winter and a cold, wet spring. This June was one of the coldest Junes ever, with just a handful of days where the temperature went above 70 degrees.