Foreign tourists hitting up American national parks next year are about to get slapped with an extra hundred bucks per person on top of whatever the gate fee already is. The Interior Department says the cash grab is supposed to fund upgrades and maintenance, while U.S. citizens keep paying their usual eighty dollars for annual passes compared to the new two-hundred-fifty-dollar international rate.
The whole system is going digital through recreation.gov, which means visitors can grab passes on their phones and skip some of the entry hassle. Secretary Doug Burgum claims this resident-focused approach makes sure taxpayers who already bankroll the parks get affordable access, while international visitors chip in what officials call their fair share.
The department hasn't named which parks are getting hit with the surcharge, but places like the Great Smoky Mountains pull over twelve million visitors yearly. Depending on how many parks someone visits, international travelers could end up dropping anywhere from eighty to two hundred fifty bucks per person instead of the current ten-to-thirty-five-dollar vehicle fees.
The whole system is going digital through recreation.gov, which means visitors can grab passes on their phones and skip some of the entry hassle. Secretary Doug Burgum claims this resident-focused approach makes sure taxpayers who already bankroll the parks get affordable access, while international visitors chip in what officials call their fair share.
The department hasn't named which parks are getting hit with the surcharge, but places like the Great Smoky Mountains pull over twelve million visitors yearly. Depending on how many parks someone visits, international travelers could end up dropping anywhere from eighty to two hundred fifty bucks per person instead of the current ten-to-thirty-five-dollar vehicle fees.
