SPRINGDALE, Utah — On the 100th day of President Trump's second term in office, not much has changed at Zion National Park, at least on the outside.
"It's up this year," said Springdale Mayor Barbara Bruno about tourism numbers. "It was up 13% in January. I think it was up 17% in February, and this last month has been really busy. Busier than I remember seeing it in March or April."
The mayor admits the first 100 days of Trump’s administration have been better than she expected as far as the tourists, but adds there have been challenges for park employees.
"Zion is down 40 full-time employees, that's a lot because I think their total employees is around 200," Bruno shared.
Although Bruno has heard talk that international visitors at the park are down, that didn't include Giovanni Sciortino and his friends from Sicily, Italy, who took a detour from a Las Vegas bachelor party to check out Zion.
But Sciortino felt slightly alone.
"We didn't meet that many tourists from other countries," he said.
How hard have Utah's parks been hit by employee cuts?
On Tuesday, Cory MacNulty with the National Parks Conservation Association claimed the high visitor figures are a facade.
"What visitors really need to understand is the infrastructure, the people behind the front lines are being gutted in order to keep the visitor services up," said MacNulty.
Locals we talked to say they haven’t seen the effects of a downturn, but Mayor Bruno said the town will feel the moment visitors reach a breaking point.
"Where Springdale would start to be impacted is if people quit coming," she explained. "So, whether they quit coming because they hear that it's no longer a great experience, or whether they quit coming because the economy has a downturn, people aren't traveling.
"If people quit coming to Zion National Park, it will impact us."
