News Release

325.5 Million Visits to National Parks in 2023, Over 1 Million Visits at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Date: February 26, 2024
Contact: Brad Bennett, 706-866-9241, ext. 115

Fort Oglethorpe, GA: The National Park Service announced that 400 national parks reported a total of 325.5 million visits in 2023, an increase of 13 million or 4% over 2022.
At Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, visitation numbers topped 1 million (1,021,822) for the first time since the National Park Service Centennial in 2016.  This increase was due in part to the commemoration of the 160th Anniversary of the Campaign for Chattanooga which occurred in 2023.

“We are grateful that more visitors from around the country as well as local residents are discovering – and re-discovering – the park’s wide-ranging educational and recreational opportunities,” said Superintendent Brad Bennett. “Park staff and partners anticipate another eventful 2024 – including a 20th anniversary celebration of Moccasin Bend National Archeological District on October 14, 2024.”

Visitation figures and trends guide how the National Park Service manages parks to ensure the best experience possible for park visitors. The Visitation Statistics Dashboard provides recreational visit statistics for every park in the US for 2023 and also for previous years, dating back to 1979 for some parks. There are 429 parks in the National Park System, and 400 parks counted visitors in 2023. For the first time, there are now parks reporting their visitation numbers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four US territories. Five national parks began reporting in 2023, and this is the first year a park from Delaware is included.