YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK — Foreign visitors planning trips to several U.S. National Parks will soon face higher entry fees, as the federal government has announced a new charge of $100 per person.
The fee increase, revealed on Tuesday, is set to affect international tourists who wish to explore some of the country’s most renowned natural sites.
Tourist Get, visiting from Thailand, shared his concerns while admiring the breathtaking scenery of Yosemite Valley. “For some people, they just want to come here to see the beautiful view. So, it’s going to be really hard for them to come here from now,” he remarked.
This fee will be implemented at 11 National Parks across the United States, including popular destinations such as Yellowstone in Montana, the Everglades in Florida, and Acadia in Maine. The new charge will take effect on January 1.
Jacob Hawley commented on the rationale behind the fee increase, noting, “What they kind of show in the verbiage on the park site is that they are trying to reinvest this into the Park Service.”
“What they kind of show in the verbiage on the Park site is that they are trying to reinvest this into the Park Service,” Jacob Hawley said.
Hawley sees dozens of foreign travelers a day. The Mariposa Visitors Center is often their last stop before heading into the park.
“They’re (from) all over the world. And, you know, we’re getting quite a bit of travelers, especially for the month of October,” he said.
Starting in the new year, Park Rangers will ask visitors for identification, and those without U.S.-issued IDs will pay what the government calls a “nonresident surcharge” to keep its most popular parks “beautiful and running well.”
“Maybe it could be a deterrent – if you increase the fee, then less people would come,” Pierre-Loues said.
Under the new rules, Pierre-Loues from Paris, with his group of six, could pay an extra $100 per person.
“I can see the $250 America the Beautiful pass being the way to go if I was a foreigner,” Hawley says.
The pass covers a carload of travelers and grants access to all parks for a year, making it a smarter option for many groups.
“The foreign travelers are coming to, you know, Sequoia Kings Canyon, Yosemite, then Grand Canyon. So, they’re already doing all those parks,” Hawley says.
Officials at the Interior Department say the new fee is a small fraction of total trip costs for foreign visitors.
It is in direct response to an executive order signed by President Trump.
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