Rocky Mountain National Park is raising its entrance fees, joining a list of national park properties scrambling to raise funds for next year’s centennial celebration.
On Oct. 1, the weekly pass for a car entering Rocky Mountain National Park will climb to $30 from $20. The new single-day pass for cars will cost $20. The annual park pass will jump to $50 from $40, with an increase to $60 planned in 2017.
Campground fees will rise to $26 from $20 a night in 2016, which the National Park Service said is based on comparable costs at nearby campgrounds.
“We feel this modest fee increase is still an incredible value when considering other family and recreational experiences one can enjoy,” park superintendent Vaughn Baker said in a statement.
The Park Service in September floated the entrance-fee hike at 131 of its 401 properties. The last systemwide fee increase was in 2009.
Rocky Mountain National Park has been charging fees to enter the park since 1939. Its first big increase came in 1989, when a week-long car pass jumped to $5 from $2.
Last year, Rocky Mountain National Park was the fifth-most-visited national park in the U.S., with more than 3.4 million visitors. Park officials say those visitors spent $217 million and supported 3,382 jobs in 2014, spurring $329 million in economic impact.
Basic operations at the park are funded by Congress, and fees support enhancements and improvements.
Last fall, the Park Service surveyed visitors and nearby residents about the proposed fee increases. Ninety-five people responded.
“There was significantly more support for the proposed fee rate changes (than opposition),” park administrators said.
