New 2025 Visitation Numbers Released From The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The release of the visitation numbers from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are anxiously anticipated, especially from local leaders. As you all were probably aware, the Smokies stayed open despite the shutdown of the Federal Government, which lasted 43 days. But did it have an effect on the overall attendance in the Park in 2025? Let’s take a look.

Overall visitation was down last year in the Smoky Mountains. How much? Well, for the first time since 2018, the numbers fell under 12 million. To be more exact, 11.5 million visits were recorded in 2025—a 5.4% decrease from 2024 (12.2 million). If state, municipal leaders and Friends of the Smokies hadn’t stepped up to provide the funding, it’s very likely the numbers would’ve been much lower, as the shutdown happened during prime fall visitation.

The year 2024 also saw a decrease, but this was in large part due to a change in the way the park counted its visitors. Former Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokesman, Dave Barak, explained this last year.

“The outcomes of these accuracy improvements include accounting for vehicles that reenter the park and a more accurate representation of how many people occupy each vehicle across seasons and locations,” Barak said.

No such changes were made in compiling the data for last year’s numbers.

Despite the lower visitation numbers for 2025, the year was still the 7th highest in the last decade, as numbers have cooled off in the post-pandemic tourism push. Here is a list of the top attendance numbers since 2016:

1. 14,161,548 visits in 2021

2. 13,297,647 visits in 2023

3. 12,937,633 visits in 2022

4. 12,547,743 visits in 2019

5. 12,191,833 visits in 2024

6. 12,095,720 visits in 2020

7. 11,538,876 (2025 preliminary number)

8. 11,421,200 visits in 2018

9. 11,338,893 visits in 2017

10. 11,312,786 visits in 2016

Honestly, I’m not totally surprised by these numbers. I know some local business owners seemed to be sounding alarm bells the past few years, but the post-COVID numbers were simply unsustainable, if you ask me. Just like the markets, there’s a cooling off period, but I do believe we will trend back upward, unless we fall on hard times. It’s just hard to predict. However, I’ve been seeing more and more first time visitors than ever, and some are just oblivious to the magnificence of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. That’s a shame, but I won’t go on a rant about that… at least not this time.

And with that, thank you for reading the latest Great Smoky Mountains National Park news from the Gatlinburg gateway. Stay tuned for much more news, events, and personal thoughts from my home. I appreciate you all for the kind words and support, and we’ll see you next time!