Montana's summer tourism season wasn't as bad as expected - and was far better than in surrounding states and most of the rest of the country.
It helped that visitor numbers at the major national parks in Montana soared above those for the 2008 season.
Visitation was bolstered by locals vacationing closer to home and by publicity sparked by filmmaker Ken Burns' PBS documentary featuring the nation's parks as "America's Best Idea," said Betsy Baumgart, administrator of the Montana Promotions Division.
Yellowstone Park is on track to break previous visitation records. For the first time, more than 3 million people were counted in the first nine months of the year. Numbers were up 8.7 percent over the same period in 2008.
National-park visitors boost Montana?s tourism stats
It helped that visitor numbers at the major national parks in Montana soared above those for the 2008 season.
Visitation was bolstered by locals vacationing closer to home and by publicity sparked by filmmaker Ken Burns' PBS documentary featuring the nation's parks as "America's Best Idea," said Betsy Baumgart, administrator of the Montana Promotions Division.
Yellowstone Park is on track to break previous visitation records. For the first time, more than 3 million people were counted in the first nine months of the year. Numbers were up 8.7 percent over the same period in 2008.
National-park visitors boost Montana?s tourism stats