US National Parks price increase

VWPolecat

The dept of the interior in the USA have announced a price increase for non US visitors after Jan 1
2026 . There will be a $100 surcharge for the most popular parks and the $80 annual fee will rise to $250 for foreign visitors  

NoodleDoodleMan

Reports online about the American tourism industry being negatively impacted since Trump was elected - this is another reason to bodyswerve the USA in the meantime.

Bicycleman22

Reports online......in depth analysis right there. 

NoodleDoodleMan

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-downturn-in-international-travel-to-the-u-s-may-last-beyond-summer-experts-warn

RandomTourist

It's not unreasonable to charge foreigners more. We experience this regularly in Kenya where there are often three prices - citizen, resident non-citizen, and non-resident (well worth renewing a Kenyan passport for the discounts - and no visa fee).

However the price increases quoted are likely to result in several funerals for golden geese.

heatherw_01

That is very sad! A huge surcharge!!

I have bought one many times and that puts me right off. Terrible.

Westin

RandomTourist said:

It's not unreasonable to charge foreigners more. We experience this regularly in Kenya where there are often three prices - citizen, resident non-citizen, and non-resident (well worth renewing a Kenyan passport for the discounts - and no visa fee).

However the price increases quoted are likely to result in several funerals for golden geese.

I tend to agree with this as well.

I think we should actually be doing that here in the UK.  Most of our museums and galleries are free to enter. Certainly the ones in London always seem to have a high number of visiting foreign tourists.  I don’t see why those same foreign visitors are not changed for entry, similar to when we often pay to visit such sights and attractions in Europe.

powerful_Rogue

I agree with this as well. Plenty of European attractions that charge extra if you're not a citizen. Good on the USA.

jon81uk

powerful_Rogue said:

I agree with this as well. Plenty of European attractions that charge extra if you're not a citizen. Good on the USA.

Although most of those attractions don't charge $100 (£75) extra to non-residents.
Making the $10 fee to $20 isn't unreasonable, but adding an extra $100 just says they don't want tourism.

saajan_12

The issue isn't charging tourists more - I'm all for supporting local people to visit their own natural areas at a lower relative price. The issue is the size of the increase - $100 on top of the existing fee is going to be a detterent to enough visitors, that I wouldnt be surprised if they lose income as a result.