Visiting Yosemite During Peak Season Could Spike In Cost

Yosemite, CA — The National Park Service is proposing a major price hike to visit national parks like Yosemite during the busy spring and summer tourist season.

A 30-day comment period has opened on a proposal to increase the price per vehicle at 17 national parks to $70, during peak season. The current weekly price per vehicle is $30. The National Park Service estimates that it would raise around $70-million annually and the funding would be used towards catching up on the estimated $11-billion in deferred maintenance. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has issued a statement to the Associated Press, reading, “We need to have a vision to look at the future of our parks and take action in order to ensure that our grandkids’ grandkids will have the same if not better experience than we have today. Shoring up our parks’ aging infrastructure will do that.”

The peak season pricing at Yosemite would run from May 1 to September 30. The 17 parks that would be impacted collect 70-percent of the revenue of the national park system.

The proposed move may push more people to purchase yearly passes, as the price for those would remain $80.