The Interior Department announced on Tuesday that, beginning on Jan. 1, visitors from abroad will have to pay an additional $100 for entry into 11 of the United States’ most frequented national parks. The move is intended to offset revenue gaps caused by the recent shutdown and a steep cut to the parks’ operating budget.
Foreign tourists will also miss out on eight “fee‑free days” that coincide with nationwide holidays such as President’s Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, the July 4 weekend, and Veteran’s Day.
Under the new rules, international guests will see the price of a yearly park pass jump to $250, while U.S. residents will continue to be charged the standard $80.
The surcharge will be added to the regular admission fee at Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Zion National Parks.
“President Trump’s leadership always puts American families first,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said. “These policies ensure that US taxpayers, who already support the National Park System, continue to enjoy affordable access, while international visitors contribute their fair share to maintaining and improving our parks for future generations.”
Funds collected from the extra fees will help upgrade facilities and keep the parks in good shape, the statement added.
The announcement follows a July executive order in which President Donald Trump directed the parks to raise entry costs for foreign tourists. The US Travel Association estimated that in 2018, national parks and monuments welcomed more than 14 million international travelers. Yellowstone, for example, reported that in 2024 nearly 15 % of its visitors were overseas, down from 30 % in 2018.
The National Park Service has long operated on a tight budget relative to other federal agencies. For the current fiscal year, the Trump administration requested Congress to allocate $2.1 billion to the NPS— a 37 % cut from the $3.3 billion appropriated for FY 2025, which ended on Sept. 30.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, signed by Trump on Jul. 4, rolled back an additional $267 million that had been earmarked for park improvements. That same month, the National Parks Conservation Association released a report noting that nearly a quarter — more than 4,000 — of the NPS’s permanent staff had left since Trump took office in January.
“It’s in no way efficient to take a beautiful jewel — a crown jewel of this nation, our national park system, that is beloved by millions of people across the country — and not only demoralize the staff and reduce the staff to the point where the leadership has been eliminated in many parks, where the maintenance, the ability to be able to even bring visitors in, open campgrounds — we have seen parks have to close parts of the park and change hours and things like that because of the fact that it’s so understaffed,” NPCA President and CEO Theresa Pierno said to “PBS NewsHour” on July 23.
“And what we also have to recognize is that, for every dollar invested in our national parks, it returns $15 to the economy. And that’s in the hotels and the food service and all of the things that people do when they come to our national parks, the communities around the parks. Thousands of people are hired in jobs that are connected to the visitors of the parks.”
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in world News on Latest NewsX. Follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter(X), Gettr and subscribe our Youtube Channel.
