Crowds in Yosemite ( ) America’s national parks are busy—so busy, in fact, that many require reservations or permits for specific trails, scenic drives, or even the park itself. But new research suggests that reservation systems may benefit wealthier visitors. Published in the open-access scientific journal Nature Communications, the study found that at seven national parks including Acadia, Glacier and Rocky Mountain, individuals who booked certain permits further in advance were more likely to come from wealthier zip codes.
That’s also true for those who nabbed the parks’ most competitive reservations, the study said. The study examined these parks between 2021 and 2024. Hughes didn’t analyze reservations for amenities like campsites.
According to the research, visitors who secured reservations for the most competitive permits came from zip codes with median incomes between 3-5 percent higher than those of visitors who sought less-competitive permits. Visitors who booked reservations well ahead of time also tend to be from wealthier zip codes, the study said. Permits bought six months in advance of a trip favor residents in zip codes with 5 percent higher median income than those of residents who purchased same-day permits.
Hughes said it makes sense that many parks have turned to reservation systems to ease the strains of overuse. The National Park Service (NPS) logged more 331 million visits in 2024—a historic high. But in a signal that the NPS is still experimenting with how to best manage crowds, it abandoned a timed entry system this year at some of the most popular parks like Arches.
It improves people’s experience,” Hughes said. Nature is protected because you don’t have people parking off the roadside, and the animals are less disturbed so there’s lots of good reasons why parks do this.” But he said the NPS’ mission to manage their sites for the benefit of the public means everyone deserves a fair chance at access. Hughes believes several factors may contribute to the inequality created by permits.
For example, those who successfully book in advance likely have more ability to do so because of their work situation. Maybe those tend to be higher-earning professions,” he said. If a high-demand permit goes on sale at a specific time, a permit seeker in a lower-income job might not be able to take off work or be near a computer to buy it, Hughes said.
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