BILLINGS – Montana innkeepers are puzzled over statistics that show visitation at state and national parks was up last year, while hotel occupancy rates plunged.
Montana state parks hosted a record 2 million visitors in 2009, but the state’s lodging occupancy rates were down more than 5 percent through November of last year, according to Montana tourism statistics.
“There’s been a lot of confusion about that,” said Steve Wahrlich, owner of the Best Western Clock Tower Inn in downtown Billings. “Are these people just driving to the park and turning around and going home? I don’t tend to believe that.”
In Glacier Country – the Montana tourism region surrounding Glacier National Park – lodging tax collections were down 9 percent. Glacier National Park visitation topped 2 million visitors for just the third time in its history. Bed-tax collections in Yellowstone Country were down 6 percent, though Yellowstone National Park set a record with more than 3.2 million visitors.
Some of the decline in bed-tax revenues could be attributed to deep price discounting in the lodging industry, or to fewer travelers choosing high-end accommodations.
Rick Hoeninghausen, marketing and sales director for Yellowstone National Park concessionaire Xanterra, said parks typically do well during tough economic times and he suspects more people were vacationing closer to home.
“Maybe what we’re actually seeing have been locals,” he said.
An increase in camping could also account for some of the gap. More than 287,000 visitors camped overnight in Montana parks, a 32 percent increase from 2008.