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FLATHEADBEACON.COM NEWS JANUARY 14, 2015 | 11
Glacier Park International Airport Breaks Passenger Record
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Almost 55,000 more passengers went through Kalispell airport last year compared to 2013
By DILLON TABISH of the Beacon
It was another banner year at Glacier Park International Airport.
Boosted by new seasonal flights to major markets and a strong tourism sea- son, the Kalispell airport set a new an- nual passenger record. A total of 452,588 revenue passengers traveled through GPIA in 2014, breaking the previous re- cord set in 2013 by 13.74 percent, accord- ing to airport officials.
The number of passengers departing from GPIA jumped 13.49 percent, with 227,561 people compared to 200,520 in 2013.
The number of arriving passen-
gers in 2014 was 225,027 compared to 197,403 in 2013.
GPIA set monthly passenger records for departures in 10 of the 12 months. In both July and August, over 35,000 peo- ple flew out of GPIA.
“It is very encouraging to see pas- senger number growth year over year, and to see economic recovery contin- ue to manifest itself in travel,” stated Cindi Martin, airport director at GPIA. “We believe we are seeing both tourism and business travel improvements as evidenced by the fact that nearly every month in 2014 a record number of trav- elers flew in and out of our market than in previous years.”
There were almost 55,000 more pas- sengers at GPIA last year compared to 2013, and almost 69,000 more than in 2012.
GPIA added several new flights last year. United Airlines agreed to fly round-trip from Kalispell to Chica- go O’Hare International from Dec. 20
through April 4. The new service was the first deal involving the upstart Glacier AERO — a nonprofit named the Airline Enhancement Regional Organization — that raised donations from the com- munity to help increase local airline ser- vices. Glacier AERO provided a revenue guarantee of $240,000 to secure the Chicago service.
There were also two new seasonal flights to Los Angeles and Portland, Or- egon added last year.
Likely another contributing factor was the region’s great tourist magnet — Glacier National Park, which broke its annual visitation record in 2014.
Also, Whitefish Mountain Resort boasted a record season from December 2013 through April 2014. The resort at- tracted nearly 345,000 total skier visits last winter, 7 percent more than the pre- vious season.
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Montana State Parks Enjoy Record Attendance Again
Reflecting rising popularity of outdoors, parks attract 2.25 million visitors in 2014
By DILLON TABISH of the Beacon
Montana’s great outdoors have never been so popular.
Along with record visitation at Gla- cier National Park, Montana’s state parks enjoyed a banner year in 2014, at- tracting more than 2.25 million people.
The state parks system set a new re- cord for visitation for the second year in a row. Attendance at the 55 pubic sites over the last 12 months was 3 percent above the previous year’s total and 29 percent over the 10-year average, ac- cording to year-end data released last week. The park system also enjoyed in- creased participation among volunteers, who dedicated nearly 43,000 hours to state park operations and programs.
“The growth in our visitation and volunteer support is very exciting,” said Chas Van Genderen, administrator for Montana State Parks. “Since 2002, an- nual park use has increased by a mil- lion visits. This trend has led to greater
demands for staffing and services in our parks. Our volunteers are vital to meet- ing those demands. We thank the public for their ongoing support, and look for- ward to continued growth for years to come.”
Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls drew the most visitors last year with 316,483. Lake Elmo State Park in Billings was second with 163,265, fol- lowed by Cooney State Park in Roberts (160,070), Spring Meadow Lake State Park in Helena (141,727) and Wayfarers State Park in Bigfork (133,473).
The Northwest Region surrounding Kalispell had the second most visitors among the state’s five regions. There were 566,946 people who visited a state park in this region, a 4.5 percent in- crease over 2013. The North Central re- gion near Great Falls attracted 593,156, a 1.5 percent decrease.
Among the local visitors in the Ka- lispell region, 80 percent were residents, according to state data. The visitation was 84 percent day-use and 16 percent overnight campers.
Lone Pine State Park outside Ka- lispell saw a 14 percent bump in visitors, drawing 88,495 people. Logan State Park near Libby had a 30 percent boost and drew 25,917 people.
“There’s going to be some fluctuation
from year to year based on local condi- tions. But when you see 14-30 percent increases, that’s significant,” said Dave Landstrom, regional manager for Mon- tana State Parks in Kalispell.
“To me that’s just indicative of the demand and need for good recreation amenities immediately adjacent to towns.”
Landstrom also noted the 7 percent increase at Wayfarers as a likely sign of heightened visitation in the so-called shoulder seasons.
“That’s one of the most heavily vis- ited sites in the state. The summers are always busy, but I think that a lot of that increase has resulted from better shoul- der seasons,” he said.
Renovations will begin this spring at Wayfarers, he said. Last summer the parks department approved several im- provements for the site, including a new public station with public restrooms the south side of the park’s entrance road. In addition, crews will also convert the existing, outdated Harry Horn public re- strooms to a seasonal park host site and will enlarge the existing park mainte- nance area in its current location.
The construction won’t disrupt camping or day-use areas, Landstrom
said.
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