 |
| Breathtaking sunrises have helped to make Haleakala National Park one of the top visitor destinations on Maui.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 15, 2000 |
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
HALEAKALA NATIONAL PARK — Business is booming at Maui’s No. 1 visitor destination.
National Park Service officials said the park set a new attendance record last year with 1,919,356 visitors, surpassing the 1999 figure by more than 160,000.
Park officials were expecting to hit the 2 million mark for the first time ö and did, if the attendance were calculated using the 2000 federal fiscal year, from October 1999 to October 2000. That number was 2,042,618.
"Any way you look at it, our numbers are up," said park ranger Jennifer Spaulding.
Park officials said visitation is up by nearly 500,000 from just three years ago.
 |
| As the sun casts a rosy glow over the clouds below Mount Haleakala, bundled-up visitors savor the natural spectacle from the summit.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 15, 2000 |
"The hotels are full and there are complaints about traffic jams. It’s not surprising tourists would want to come up to the park and out to Kipahulu," said Superintendent Don Reeser. "It’s a magnificent park."
The Maui Visitors Bureau reported that nearly 2.3 million tourists visiting Maui last year. The numbers indicate that most probably ventured to the national park.
The bureau said that in 2000, 988,737 people drove to the summit district at 10,000-foot elevation; 930,619 visited the park’s Kipahulu district along Maui’s east coast.
Another indication of the park’s popularity is the growing number of bicyclists who ride down from the summit. In 2000, 86,367 bikers started a ride down the mountain from within the park, compared with 74,372 the year before.
Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, meanwhile, recorded 1,502,855 visits in 1999. Information from last year was not available.
Overall, Haleakala ranked 10th in attendance among the nation’s large national parks in 1999, while Hawai‘i Volcanoes ranked 13th. The 2000 rankings were not available.
At Haleakala, attendance records go back to 1937. The fewest number of visitors — 11,247 — was recorded in 1943. The park was closed during World War II, from Dec. 7, 1941, to Jan. 31, 1943.
The park first broke the 1 million attendance mark in 1984.
[back to top] |
