Visitation to the Smokies jumps over last year
Visitation to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park through October is up for the year, and in October 2010 park visitation jumped by 19 percent over October 2009.
Parkwide, visitation for the year is up 2.9 percent. Through October 2009, 8,257,869 people had been to the Smokies. Through October of this year, that number is up to 8,449,815.
For October, the 2009 visitation was 1,052,137 compared to 1,252,357 in October 2010.
All the main entrances to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park had increases over their October 2009 numbers: Gatlinburg was up 8.2 percent; Townsend jumped 18.4 percent; and Cherokee was up 13.4 percent.
The 13 outlying areas were up by 45.9 percent. To view the report for the Smokies visit www.nature.nps.gov/stats/viewReport.cfm.
