National Park Service Logged 323 Million Visits in 2025 as 26 Parks Set New Records

The National Park Service recorded more than 323 million recreation visits in 2025, including over 13 million overnight stays, according to figures released this spring. The total marked a 2.7% decline from 2024's all-time record of 331.9 million visits, but 26 individual parks still set new visitation records of their own.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park remained the most visited site in the system, drawing more than 11.5 million visitors in 2025, continuing its long-standing position as the country's busiest national park by a wide margin over runners-up like Zion and Grand Canyon.

Travel industry groups are forecasting a rebound toward or beyond the 2024 record in 2026, driven partly by expected tourism interest tied to the country's 250th anniversary celebrations, which are drawing renewed attention to historic and natural sites across the National Park System.

Park officials have cautioned that rising visitation, even at a slightly reduced level from the 2024 peak, continues to strain aging infrastructure and staffing levels at the most popular parks, a tension that partly motivated this year's new surcharge on international visitors.