August visitation in Acadia down from 2018
Photo / Laurie Schreiber
The number of visitors dropped off in Acadia during August, compared with August 2018.
The number of visitors to Acadia National Park is down slightly for the year so far, and an August decline hit one portion of the park especially hard.
The total number of recreational visitors to Acadia from January through August was 2,339,393, a 2.3% fall from the 2,395,351 recorded for the same period in 2018, according to the latest National Park Service report.
Acadia is divided into three segments. The bulk of the park is on Mount Desert Island, which had 611,890 visitors this August, compared with 620,476 in August 2018, a 1.4% drop.
The number of visitors on the park's mainland portion, the Schoodic Peninsula, dropped just slightly, from 67,320 in August 2018 to 67,152 this August.
The number of visitors to Isle au Haut declined 20.8%, from 2,980 in August 2018 to 2,366 this August. This island is the smallest of the three portions, representing about 8 square miles of the 77-square-mile park.
But the feeling on the ground is that things are about the same as ever.
“From my seat in downtown Bar Harbor and my time in the park, it has not felt like a downturn,” said David McDonald, president/CEO of Friends of Acadia. “The other thing to remember is, that is a calculation. There are many ways to access the park. That number is the park’s best effort to put in place a calculation methodology.”
Lesser-known sites in the park seem busier, he added.
“This may be an effect of people getting the sense that Cadillac and Sand Beach and Thunder Hole are going to be crowded and they’re seeking out alternatives. That’s just anecdotal. Some sites are up and some are down," McDonald said.
September and October seem strong.
“I’ve been struck by the number of days in September when the parking lots were full,” McDonald said.
While there may be fewer visitors, more of them are taking public and group transportation.
The number of people using the free Island Explorer shuttle bus system went up by 3.2%: 233,161 riders used the system this August, compared with 225,998 in August 2018. In the year to date through August, there was a 1.1% increase in ridership, from 497,740 in 2018 to 503,408 during 2019.
The number of riders on commercial tour buses, which includes coaches, small buses and passenger vans, also increased for August, from 9,097 riders in 2018 to 9,780 this August, a 7.5% increase.
The park’s own concession buses, however, saw a decline in ridership. August 2018 saw 10,846 riders, compared with 10,257 this August, a 5.4% drop.
In the past decade, overall visitation to Acadia has risen from 2.075 million in 2008 to 3.537 million in 2018.
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