As a professional wildlife photographer, Amy Gerber loves the relative quiet of the East Gate of Yellowstone National Park over other entrances.

“The East Entrance is always the reprieve. It’s always the quiet route,” she said. “I enjoy my time in the park when I’m on the East Entrance Road — at least until I get to Fishing Bridge junction — and then it’s like, all bets are off.”

Yet, Gerber’s business interests rely on East Gate tourism for success.

“It’s like, you don’t want to let that cat out of the bag. For business reasons it’s nice to get tourism in Cody, but on the other hand, I kind of like the quiet,” she said.

Gerber has spoken with friends at other Cody businesses and they feel like profits are down this year.

“At our gallery visitation seems on par, but spending isn’t as good,” the co-owner of Open Range Images said.

According to National Park Service data, visitation is down at the East Entrance and it has been decreasing for the past decade. This comes at a time when recreational visits are up about a million during the same time period, with the park likely to see more than 4.5 million recreational visits this year.

The East Entrance is the only gate to see a decline in the past decade, including this year. Through July the park has hosted 2,626,091 recreation visits, up 7% from 2023 (2,462,535 recreation visits). However, business through the East Entrance is down 1.7% so far this year.

Public Affairs Officer Linda Veress said variations in entrance station traffic counts generally far exceed the difference seen at the East Entrance between the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

“The 1.7% difference is small enough that it is likely not contributable to any identifiable cause, but rather normal variation due to a multitude of small causes (fuel prices, hotel availability, cost of flights, the latest travel trends on social media, weather, etc.),” she said. 

Yet the other four entrances faired much better.

The North Entrance was up 13.7%, the Northeast Entrance was up about 10%, the South Entrance was up 8.23% and the West Entrance was up about 4%. Currently, only a little more than 7.2% of all park visits are flowing through Cody to Yellowstone. It seems to be a trend.

The number of visits coming through Cody in 2023 was less than the those coming through a decade ago by about 12,000 while the park has increased visitation by about 1 million during the same period. Only 2020 (COVID-19) and 2022 (flood) have had fewer visits than 2023 in the past decade, according to NPS statistics.

Yellowstone National Park hosted 992,352 recreation visits in July 2024, up 2% from July, 2023 (969,692 recreation visits). So far in 2024, the park has hosted 2,626,091 recreation visits, up 7% from 2023 (2,462,535 recreation visits).

Summer is Yellowstone’s busiest season and millions of people visit the park in June, July and August. Many gateway communities rely on summer business to make it through the rest of the year.

Ryan Hauck, executive director of the Park County Travel Council, confirmed that visitor spending is down this year. Yet, despite a decline in overall gate entrances, Park County is seeing less of a decline in visitor spending than other gateways, he said. And they are seeing record overnight stays.

“In 2021 we saw 807,000 overnight visitors. Last year we saw 984,000 overnight visitors and we are on pace to hit those record numbers again this year.”

What NPS stats don’t count are exits, Hauck pointed out. And he believes that while fewer folks are entering through the East Gate, more are exiting to enjoy everything that Park County has to offer.

The top draws are the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the Nite Rodeo, he said.

“The Buffalo Bill Center of the West is far and away the number one attraction and the rodeo is having a phenomenal attendance this year,” he said, adding the Nite Rodeo is having a record-setting year.

Hauck pointed to authentic Western experiences “that people love,” including 17 dude ranches, wild mustang tours, the Cody Firearms Experience, the Wild West Spectacular and the daily gunfight reenactments. He also highlighted outdoor recreation.

“We have unlimited amounts of world-class outdoor recreation, and it’s more accessible now than it ever has been in the past with new signage, new maps and new applications on your phone,” he said. “We have a lot more going on here than anywhere else in the Greater Yellowstone Area, which is why we have constantly seen an increase as far as our number of nights stayed in Park County.”

Park County Travel Council chairman John Parsons agrees with Hauck, saying the county has been setting records every year in the past decade despite a substantial decline in visitors entering through the East Gate.

“We’ve set records every year with heads on beds and taxes,” he said. “Our goal is getting people to Park County, not through the East Gate.”

One frustrating situation was that Google Maps had been reporting the North Fork Highway (U.S. Highway 14/16/20W) was closed much of the summer due to the Clearwater Fire.

“We couldn’t get them to change it so it has been tough on the North Fork businesses this year,” Parsons said.

Yellowstone’s impact

Tourism to Yellowstone National Park contributes $828 million to local economy, according to a National Park Service report.

The report shows that 4.5 million visitors to Yellowstone National Park in 2023 spent $623 million in communities near the park. That spending supported 8,560 jobs in the local area and had a cumulative benefit to the local economy of $828 million.

“I’m so proud that our parks and the stories we tell make a lasting impact on more than 300 million visitors a year,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “And I’m just as proud to see those visitors making positive impacts of their own, by supporting local economies and jobs in every state in the country.”  

The National Park Service report, 2023 National Park Visitor Spending Effects, finds that 325.5 million visitors spent $26.4 billion in communities near national parks. This spending supported 415,400 jobs, provided $19.4 billion in labor income and $55.6 billion in economic output to the U.S. economy.

The lodging sector had the highest direct contributions with $9.9 billion in economic output and 89,200 jobs. The restaurants received the next greatest direct contributions with $5.2 billion in economic output and 68,600 jobs.

Many in gateway communities and throughout the Big Horn Basin, like Gerber, want a day in the park finding solace, not staring at an RV bumper. At the same time, those same people are conflicted; wanting their families, friends and neighbors to be prosperous.

The question is: Where’s the happy medium?

Gerber said planning ahead for the summer rush is the best way for locals to avoid hoards of tourists when they’re in the park. She suggests arriving at the park at sunrise and then making your way to a quieter spot in the region around 10 a.m., as large crowds of tourists hit the roads after breakfasts at vendors inside the park. Later in the evening is also a good time to be in the park, as those same tourists head for dinner between 6 and 7 p.m.