GATLINBURG (AP) — Great Smoky Mountains National Park has begun selling annual parking tags ahead of a new requirement beginning March 1 to buy daily, weekly or annual tags to park any vehicle for more than 15 minutes.
Park officials say the $40 annual tags can be bought online through the Great Smoky Mountains Association or at any of the park's visitor centers. Annual tags purchased before March 1 will be valid through March 2024.
The $5 daily and $15 weekly parking tags will become available for purchase Feb. 21 at recreation.gov.
The revenue will fund services such as trail maintenance, custodial work and trash removal, resource education programs, emergency responders and law enforcement staff.
Parking tags are not transferrable between vehicles. Parking will remain first-come, first-served throughout the park.
After a civic engagement process, the park announced the decision in Aug. 2022 to proceed with the tags requirement, naming it the Park it Forward program.