Foreign tourists visiting major United States national parks such as the Grand Canyon and Yosemite will face higher entrance charges beginning in 2026, the Trump administration announced on Tuesday. The Department of the Interior said international visitors will pay an additional $100 on top of existing entrance fees at 11 of the most popular parks. The cost of an annual pass for non residents will also rise to $250, while U.S. citizens and permanent residents will continue to pay the current $80 rate.
The department said the changes are intended to put American families first, aligning with President Donald Trump’s goal of keeping national parks more affordable for United States residents. These policies ensure that U.S. 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, said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.
The higher fees will take effect at the start of 2026, coinciding with the launch of an upgraded online reservation system and expanded access for motorcyclists. Non United States residents who purchase an annual pass will not be subject to the $100 surcharge on entry to the most visited parks, including Florida’s Everglades, Maine’s Acadia and California’s Yosemite, but that fee will apply to all other foreign visitors without the annual pass.
The announcement also outlined eight resident only patriotic fee free days for 2026, including Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Flag Day, which falls on June 14 and is also President Trump’s birthday. In the past, fee free days have allowed all visitors free entry regardless of whether they were residents or not.
The move follows an executive order Trump signed in July directing higher entry fees for overseas visitors, with the additional revenue earmarked for park conservation and maintenance. The July 3 executive order, titled Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks, directed the Secretary of the Interior to raise national park entry fees for international visitors and give United States residents preferential treatment over foreign visitors regarding recreational access rules, including permitting or lottery rules that parks might have in place.
In its 2026 fiscal year budget proposal released in May, the Interior Department estimated that such a surcharge would generate more than $90 million annually. However, in a separate budget proposal, the Interior Department also proposed cutting more than $1 billion to the Park Service, which would be the largest such budget cut in the agency’s history.
Not all national parks charge an entrance fee, and for those that do, the fee varies. Generally, visitors can purchase either a standard daily or weekly pass to one specific park, or an annual pass that can be used at one park or in a certain region of the country. Some of the National Park Service’s most popular sites, like Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, charge entrance fees of $20 per person or $35 per vehicle.
United States national parks have seen record popularity in recent years, drawing more than 331.9 million visitors in 2024, up 6.36 million from the previous year. The National Park Service reported this as the highest visitation figure in its history, surpassing the previous record of 330.9 million recreation visits set in 2016. The 2024 statistics represent a 2 percent increase from 2023.
The most visited national parks in 2024 included Great Smoky Mountains National Park with 12.19 million visitors, Zion National Park with 4.94 million, Grand Canyon National Park with 4.91 million, Yellowstone National Park with 4.74 million, Rocky Mountain National Park with 4.15 million, and Yosemite National Park with 4.12 million visitors. Acadia National Park in Maine, which is among the 11 parks subject to the new surcharge, attracted 3.96 million visitors in 2024.
In addition to the fee hikes, the Department of the Interior announced that all annual passes would now allow entry to two motorcycles instead of one. The agency also announced a new digital America the Beautiful Pass and unveiled a new design for physical cards featuring Trump and George Washington’s faces, replacing the previous design.
During Trump’s first term in 2018, then Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke proposed steeply raising entry fees in a handful of popular national parks, including Zion and Arches. Under Zinke’s plan, entrance fees to those units would have more than doubled, rising from $25 per car to $70 for any visitor without an annual pass. The Department of the Interior backtracked on that plan in the face of strong public opposition.
The announcement comes as the National Park Service grapples with staffing challenges. In March 2025, the Trump administration fired roughly 1,000 National Park Service employees in a bid to cut federal spending. Additionally, more than 700 park employees resigned under the administration’s deferred resignation program. Officials have warned that the staffing reductions could affect visitors’ experiences in the parks, with fewer staff meaning shorter visitor center hours, delayed openings and closed campgrounds.
Critics have raised concerns about the impact of the fee increase on international tourism and the country’s reputation as a welcoming destination. The significant extra costs for most foreigners follow President Trump’s stated intention to preserve the parks for American families. Travel industry analysts warn that international travelers who previously felt welcomed in the United States may now feel excluded or burdened by the extra costs, potentially affecting tourism revenue in gateway communities surrounding national parks.
In 2023, 325 million park visitors spent a record high $55.6 billion while visiting National Park Service lands across the country. Based on this spending, the park service calculated that visitor spending supported over 415,000 jobs, generating $19.4 billion in wages and salaries. A 2016 economic valuation of the National Park Service by Colorado State University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government marked the economic value of the service at $92 billion, with 95 percent of respondents saying that protecting national parks for future generations was important.
