Compared to 2024, last year was less than mighty for Utah’s national parks. And from Zion to Arches, Bryce Canyon was hit the hardest.
The park in south-central Utah, famous for its red rock hoodoos, had 1.97 million visitors in 2025, a 21% decrease from the previous year. Outside of the pandemic plunge, that was the park’s lowest annual total since 2015.
That’s a big deal for the Garfield County economy and the 5,290 people who live there. Bryce Canyon tourism had a $270 million economic impact in the rural communities near the park in 2024.
“Everybody's connected to that,” said Lance Syrett, general manager of Ruby's Inn in Bryce Canyon City. “When you start turning down the thermostat on tourism … that affects everybody.”
Bryce Canyon’s typical peak season is shorter than Utah’s other parks because of the high elevation, he said. That means when there’s a summer slump — like what happened in 2025 — it’s hard to make up for it later.
Ruby’s Inn responded by lowering nightly prices, but that can only go so far.
“We like to think we're a world-class destination, and sometimes we're selling rooms for 90 bucks, including breakfast, just to get a head in a bed,” he said. “That's not sustainable long term.”
The hotel’s revenue was down around 3% for the year, Syrett said, and he estimates less-established hospitality businesses dropped even more.
The biggest reason for the downturn: fewer people coming from abroad.
Foreign tourists make up close to 70% of all visitation to the Bryce area, said Falyn Owens, executive director of the Garfield County Office of Tourism.
“International visitors are so important for us,” she said, “and they typically spend about 40% more than domestic visitors.”
In 2025, she said the county saw a drop from many of its top foreign markets, such as France, Germany and Canada. The dip appears to be linked to actions and language coming from the White House, which has made some foreign travelers reluctant to come to the U.S.
“The global geopolitical friction has been challenging,” Owens said. “A lot of people aren't as eager to come see us as they have been in the past.”
The Trump administration has targeted numerous countries from Europe to Asia with combative comments and economic fights. Strained relations between the U.S. and global allies have been tied to steep drops in tourism from ski resorts to Canadian border towns to the Las Vegas strip.
“Our data seems to show a lot of our international travelers stayed home,” Syrett said. “And a lot of our tour operator partners admitted that a lot of them stayed home due to various geopolitical issues — threats of tariffs, tariffs, other rhetoric.”
Bryce’s slump last year was part of a broader trend. National park visitation nationwide was down 2.7%, with nearly 9 million fewer visits in 2025 than in 2024.
While Utah’s Mighty 5 saw an overall decrease, the individual park results were mixed.
Capitol Reef took a step back from its record-setting 2024, with a 2.4% drop in visitation. Most of the park’s declines came in September, October and November. Canyonlands also saw a slight slump.
Zion’s visitation held steady, going from 4.95 million visits in 2024 to 4.98 million in 2025. It also retained its title of the second-most visited national park in the U.S. behind Great Smoky Mountains. Zion crowds were down significantly during the June and July peak. Visitors also dipped in October during the government shutdown.
Arches saw the largest increase. Visitation was up 3% from the previous year. It’s unclear if the cancellation of Arches’ timed-entry program will lead to larger or smaller crowds in 2026.
Ruby’s Inn has ramped up advertising to try to turn things around this year, Syrett said. That includes outreach to people who live in Utah and the West, in hopes that domestic tourism can fill the gap if Europeans continue to go elsewhere.
“We hope to have a good year this year,” he said. “Of course, we're a little concerned with how the international fee increases at the parks will affect our international visitors.”
The price of an annual parks pass that covers a car with four adults increased from $80 to $250 for visitors from abroad. They also need to pay an extra $100 fee per person at some of the most popular parks, including Bryce Canyon. The administration announced the new rules in late November, and they went into effect Jan. 1.
More than anything, Syrett said, it was the timing and the size of the change that made things tough. International tour operators typically plan trips 18 months in advance, so the last-minute shift threw an extra layer of uncertainty into the process.
“They're trying to figure that out, and they're working with the Park Service,” Syrett said. “But just like anything with the federal government, it gets really weird, real fast.”
Garfield County partners with the state to dispatch representatives internationally to educate tour operators about Bryce and answer questions about the policy changes. They’ve sent recent sales missions to France and Italy, for example, Owens said.
It’s important to let people know that no matter what they may hear in the global news, they are still welcome in southern Utah.
“We're still staying open and visible in those markets and making sure that we still encourage those visitors to come here,” she said. “I hope that our messaging is good enough that people feel confident about that.”
Disclosure: Ruby’s Inn is a financial sponsor of KUER
