Cuyahoga Valley was 9th most visited national park in country in 2022
Cuyahoga Valley National Park was the 9th most visited national park in the country in 2022, with nearly 3 million recreational visits.
The park said in a statement that the entire national park system experienced a dip in visitation during the COVID-19 pandemic. But CVNP saw a marked increase in 2020, with visitation numbers in 2022 surpassing 2020's numbers.
“We are excited to welcome more visitors to experience CVNP and find their own connection to this beautiful place,” CVNP Superintendent Lisa Petit said in a statement. “We look forward to working alongside our gateway communities to show exceptional hospitality — which benefits both the visitor and the community."
There were 2,755,628 visits in 2020, a 23.1% increase over 2019. The park saw a slight decrease in 2021 to 2,575,275, but rebounded to 2,913,312 visits in 2022, an increase of 13.1%.
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According to the park, in the park’s early years, most CVNP recreational visitors were local, but visitor studies and anecdotal observations of staff indicate the number of visitors from outside the local area is increasing. (The 33,000-acre national park along the Cuyahoga River in Summit and Cuyahoga counties was established as the Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area in 1974 and renamed in 2000.)
CVNP doesn't charge an entrance fee, so visitation is determined by traffic counters in parking lots, with visitation analyzed by the National Park Service Social Science Program each year. People visit CVNP year-round, but the park is busiest from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May through October.
Earlier this year, online travel publication Travel Lens named Cuyahoga Valley National Park the second best national park in the U.S.
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Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cuyahoga Valley National Park was 9th most visited in country in 2022
