Visitors to Yellowstone National Park are on track to setting record numbers, with May reporting numbers exceeding those at the same time last year by nearly 15 percent, according to a news release Thursday.

With the busy summer months still ahead, visitation to Yellowstone National Park for the first five months of 2016 totaled 923,707 up 8.3 percent from 852,954 for the same period last year.

Visitation for May alone was 593,943, up 14.6 percent from 518,087 in May 2015

All of the park’s five entrances showed an increase in vehicles for the month of May compared to May 2015. The West Entrance recorded the largest increase in May, with 33,927 more vehicles than May 2015.

Park managers said many factors account for the increased visitation:

  • This is the centennial of the National Park Service, although Yellowstone itself was established in 1872.
  • Marketing and tourism promotions by the states of Montana and Wyoming.
  • Lower gas prices.

For more information about visitation, visit the park's statistics website.

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