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Contact: Matthew Cahill, Public Information Officer, 907-697-2230
BARTLETT COVE, ALASKA—The National Park Service announced last week that 400 parks reported a total of 325.5 million visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022.
Glacier Bay was one of 20 National Park Service units to break annual visitation records in 2023, welcoming 703,659 visitors, a 5% increase over our previous record of 672,087 visitors in 2019.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve encompasses 3.3 million acres of rugged mountains, dynamic glaciers, temperate rainforest, wild coastlines and deep sheltered fjords that are Homeland for Huna and Yakutat Tlingit. Glacier Bay National Park is part of a 25-million acre World Heritage Site—one of the world’s largest international protected areas.
The vast majority of Glacier Bay visitors travel by water, providing one of the most accessible national park experiences in Alaska. Most visitors never go ashore, visiting on cruise ships, where economies of scale and evolving technology contribute to reduced impacts per visitor. Park managers work with these commercial partners to achieve some of the highest environmental standards in the cruise industry, with independent oversight under an Environmental Monitoring and Compliance Program.
Other marine visitors arrive aboard tour, charter, private boats, or sea kayaks seeking to explore Glacier Bay’s numerous branches, inlets, lagoons, islands, and beaches. Glacier Bay’s remote wilderness setting provides these visitors a range of opportunities for discovery, recreation, and exploration of undeveloped and remote places. A few intrepid visitors travel farther into the wilderness to hike, raft, or climb the mountains, a trip that requires serious preparation, skill, equipment, and place-specific knowledge. These visitors often look to the National Park Service for trip support as they launch their trip.
Visitation figures are a valuable tool used by the National Park Service to manage public enjoyment of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve while monitoring resource conditions and the quality of the visitor experience. For a more in-depth characterization of Glacier Bay’s visitors and how visitor data and other monitoring informs park management, refer to the park’s visitor use management plans:
Glacier Bay National Park Backcountry and Wilderness Management Plan
Glacier Bay National Park Marine Management Plan
Alsek River Visitor Use Management Plan
The National Park Service Visitation Statistics Dashboard also provides recreational visit statistics for every National Park Service unit in the United States for 2023 and also for previous years.
Last updated: February 27, 2024