Glacier National Park starting ticketed Entry
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2021/03/31/glacier-national-park-unveils-ticketed-entry-system-for-sun-road/ I'm sure there are going to be questions and local pushback.
Forum Discussion
FWC wrote:valhalla360 wrote:
Other than this past year, which is an anomaly, many of the parks are heavily traveled by foreigners. Particularly they busiest parks.
Nothing xenophobic about it. As the owners, citizens should have first access if we need to reduce numbers as you suggest.
Will we have to show our papers to enter the parks?
Even before the pandemic, foreign visitors made up 9% of the visitation to Glacier, and only 6% of visitation to Zion, so restricting foreign visitation will not solve the issue.
I believe that sharing the worlds cultural and natural treasures brings people together. It would be really sad if Egypt decided to no longer let foreigners into Giza, France no longer let foreigners visit the Louvre and Australia no longer let foreigners visit the Great Barrier Reef.
You already have to show your card at most NP to gain entry...particularly the busy ones. This past winter, we've had them check that it's signed and that it matches our ID. So yes, you have to show your papers.
Removing a 10th of the visitors at Glacier would likely have a big impact particularly since they are likely concentrated on the top attractions in the park, so it would have a disproportionate impact.
At Grand Canyon it's around 35% of visitors. 20% at Yosemite. There is room to scale back without eliminating entirely. Or do we push them to come in the off season. We hit 10 national parks over the past 6 months and other than Zion, there was no crowds.
No one is suggesting we don't allow them to visit but first priority would be for citizens. There's a difference between managing and outlawing.
PS: In many of the top European tourist cities, there is a problem. The tourists have displaced the locals. Go to Venice and its' a rarity to meet an actual Venetian. There are groups pushing to limit them. Without the locals, it may as well be a fake disney theme park. When we were in Egypt 2 years ago, the locals outnumbered foreign tourists 10 to 1 at Giza and the locals had ticket prices about 1/10th the price that we paid for entrance tickets. Your examples are on weak ground if we are to use foreign destinations as a comparison.
