Smoky Mountains park sets record with 12.5M visitors in 2019

Great Smoky Mountains National Park saw a record 12.5 million visitors in 2019, a 1.1 million increase over 2018, the park announced Monday.

A news release from the park says monthly visitation records were set during January, March, April, May, June and December of last year.

The park's three primary entrances near Gatlinburg, Townsend and Cherokee saw increased use, with about two-thirds of visitors to the park using them.

Additionally, a new section of the Foothills Parkway between Walland and Wears Valley saw more than 1 million visitors, spurring growth in visits through secondary park entrances.

The park straddles the Tennessee and North Carolina border.