Mesa Verde visitation drops

Mesa Verde visitation drops

Jan. 10, 2001

December visitation to Mesa Verde National Park showed a decrease of 23 percent from the same month in 1999, the park reported in a press release. This represents a decrease of 18.1 percent for the entire year of 2001 as compared to 1999. Because the park was closed for 23.5 days in 2000 because of the Bircher and Pony fires, park staff use 1999 for comparison.

There were a total of 6,005 visits in December 2001, compared to 7,802 during December 1999. For the entire year of 2001, the park saw 537,474 total visits, compared to 656,023 during 1999.