ADVOCACY
A united
voice
NTA forms coalition
that responds to
rising fees at U.S.
national parks.
ON OCT. 24, the U.S. National Park
Service proposed to increase fee sched-
ules, mandate commercial use autho-
rization permits and establish seasonal
peak pricing on commercial tour opera-
tor entry fees at 17 of America’s most
visited national parks. Its goal is to
address the nearly $12 billion in main-
tena nce projects that have been delayed
due to budget constraints.
These adjustments to entry and
permit fees—including CUA applica-
tion and management fees—will have
a serious impact on the many NTA tour
companies that package the parks and
on area concessionaires.
NTA President Pam Inman immedi-
ately contacted NPS officials to express
concerns. And to amplify NTA’s voice,
Inman organized a coalition of indus-
try associations, which collaborated
on a Nov. 13 letter to Secretary of the
Interior Ryan Zinke. Here are excerpts
from that letter: be achieved through more thoughtful
measures that will not jeopardize the
role the travel and tourism industry
plays in promoting the enjoyment of
our national parks and creating jobs.
We want to work with your department
to enhance the experiences these trea-
sures offer travelers. As a starting point,
we need to consider how best to meet
the objectives, in terms of setting rea-
sonable price increases and, specifically,
the timing of any sort of increase.
The travel and tourism industry, which
includes a range of organizations that
represent the business interests of
commercial tour operators and motor-
coach travel, is concerned about the U.S.
National Park Service’s recent proposal
to increase fee schedules, mandate com-
mercial use authorization permits and
establish seasonal peak pricing on com-
mercial entry fees at 17 national parks. Our organizations help to ensure that
the movement of people through our
parks is as efficient as possible. For
example, just one bus can take up to 55
cars off the road, providing congestion
[reduction] and environmental benefits
to all park users. Commercial buses and
tour groups are critical to the economic
health of the NPS. In FY 2012, com-
mercial bus fees were the third highest
revenue-related source for the parks.
That standing only has increased in
recent years behind record-breaking vis-
its from the travel and tourism industry,
due in part to the support from the
listed associations.
National parks are among America’s
top destinations, and our industry has
consistently advocated for park fund-
ing. While we recognize that additional
fees are needed to preserve our nation’s
natural treasures, we are concerned the
lack of a more staged implementation
period to fairly and equitably imple-
ment the fee increase into tour pack-
ages will be burdensome on users of the
parks and tour companies.
We recognize the need to maintain
and improve America’s national parks.
However, we believe the NPS goals can
10
January 2018
The associations represented on this
letter have had a longstanding agree-
ment with the NPS that we would
be notified 18 months ahead of any
entrance-fee increases to enable pric-
ing adjustments. This is critical for our
members and their customers, as many
companies book tour groups months, if
not years, in advance. With the recent
announcement, we are concerned about
how this will impact not only our tour
companies and their customers, but
also the area concessionaires and the
local destination attractions that serve
these visitors near the parks.