News Release

Visitation at Dinosaur National Monument Decreases in 2020

Date: January 22, 2021
Contact: Dan Johnson, [phone]

Jensen, UT & Dinosaur, CO – Recreational visits for 2020 at Dinosaur National Monument tallied a total of 264,266 – an 11.3% decrease over the 2019 annual visitation. However, December visitation numbers showed a 27.7% increase for the month over 2019 statistics, a trend that had started in the middle of the year and picked up steam by year’s end. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic impacted visitation in 2020, once mitigation measures for employee and visitor safety were in place, and facilities reopened, overall recreational visitation at the monument rebounded. The last four months of 2020 saw significant increases over 2019 numbers.

Month	Recreational Visits 2020	Recreational Visits 2019	Change
January	4,703	1,137	+ 313.6%
February	4,281	3,189	+ 34.2%
March	8,305	5,603	+ 48.2%
April	6,721	18,794	- 64.2%
May	12,635	36,588	- 65.5%
June	26,425	57,804	- 54.3%
July	64,076	62,538	+ 2.5%
August	54,425	52,365	+ 3.9%
September	39,591	29,562	+ 33.9%
October	26,653	18,868	+ 41.3%
November	10,323	7,814	+ 32.1%
December	6,088	4,703	+27.7%
Total for Year	264,266	298,965	-11.3%

2020 calendar year data are preliminary and subject to change. Data will be finalized by the end of the first quarter of the 2021 calendar year. Visitation statistics are calculated by using a combination of visitor center numbers, trail counters plus the actual number of wheeled vehicles entering the monument gates and using a person-per-vehicle multiplier to calculate the number of monthly recreational visitors. Detailed monument visitation information and additional information on how these statistics are calculated is available online at https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park/DINO.

For more information, call [phone] or follow DinosaurNPS on social media.