GATLINBURG (AP) - The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is running more than 11% ahead of 2011 visits for the first half of this year.
Park officials said Wednesday that June visitation was up 7.2% - a total of 1,202,056 visitors to the 500,000-acre park on the Tennessee-North Carolina border. The year-to-date figure is up 11.5% over the first six months of 2011. That means an additional 410,767 people have come into the park this year.
Smokies spokeswoman Molly Schroer said the park is also 3.6% ahead of the five-year average for park visits.
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