Best May ever for Smokies visits
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) – The mountains were a popular destination last month.
The National Park Service said the Great Smoky Mountains National Park had nearly 886,000 visitors in May – the most ever in any May. The number was up by 10.5 percent, or more than 86,000 people, from May 2012.
Year-to-date visitation is down by 5.5 percent from the five-year average, however. For the first five months of 2013, the park recorded just more than 2,506,000 visitors. That was 273,000 fewer than in the first five months of 2012.
