Despite a decline in international tourism and a smaller full-time staff compared to 2024, the number of recreational visitors to Acadia National Park increased.
According to monthly visitor reports from the National Park Service, 797,030 people came to explore Acadia last month — about 6,000 more than in July 2024.
Maine tourism officials have reported drops in Canadian visitors, partly because of shifting opinions on the U.S. after tariff threats from the Trump administration. But visits to National Parks have been trending high since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"People fell in love with the outdoors again," said Eric Stiles, who leads the nonprofit Friends of Acadia. "We saw a big bump across the United States, not just in national parks but state parks and land trusts."
Eight full-time staff were laid off in February as part of cuts proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency. The park was still able to hire a seasonal staff but Stiles said his group wants to see full-time positions grow to meet the demand of more tourists.
Acadia typically sees over 4 million tourists per year. The busiest July on record was back in 1989, when the park saw over 1 million visitors.
"[Acadia] is also an essential driver to the economy of Down East Main," Stiles said. "Hotels, motels, restaurants, gas stations, guides, kayak shops, bike shops, that kind of stuff ... the majority of those employers are locally owned."
