American national parks are experiencing record-breaking visitation this summer, with many parks feeling the strain of overcrowding and long wait times. Visitors to Zion National Park, for example, have reported waiting 45 minutes to enter the park and experiencing delays once inside.

Overcrowding and Delays

Yellowstone National Park reported a new visitation record in May, with jammed parking lots and delays. Yosemite National Park in California also saw visitation reach new highs in May, with bumper-to-bumper cars clogging park roads. The traffic in Yosemite reminded one visitor of L.A. at rush hour.

The park attendance surge has ripple effects across the travel industry, with some companies ramping up offerings to meet the increased demand. Tour operator Backroads has expanded capacity on its US national park tours by 12% to keep up.

Causes and Concerns

Historically, visitation at national parks has actually fallen in tough economic times. However, social media exposure has been driving visitation at popular national parks, with parks like Joshua Tree seeing big increases when social media became more popular in the mid-2010s.

The National Park Service has been dealing with funding cuts and staffing shortages, which have impacted the quality of the visitor experience. The park service has eliminated timed-entry and reservation systems, which some experts say will lead to chaos and lower-quality experiences.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.