Visitation at Mesa Verde has been down by a little less than 4 percent this year.
The national park’s superintendent, Kayci Cook, told the Montezuma County commissioners at their workshop Monday that numbers for 2025 through August show a decline from last year. She said it seems to be part of a general trend in the local area, and a reduction in international tourists is probably having an effect.
KSJD was unable to get a reply by press time on visitation to parks in the Southeast Utah group, which are Canyonlands and Arches national parks and Hovenweep and Natural Bridges national monuments.
A report by radio station KUER said that all of Utah’s national parks are seeing drops in visitation this year, with Canyonlands down about 3.5 percent for June and July as compared to 2024.
Hot temperatures and the Dragon Bravo fire at Grand Canyon could be factors in the decline.
But Cook told the county commissioners that tourism may rebound next year because of “a series of overlapping celebrations that I think could bring a lot of people to our public lands.”
2026 will be the 250th anniversary of the creation of the United States, the 150th anniversary of the state of Colorado, and the 120th anniversary of Mesa Verde National Park.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.