Yellowstone, Grand Teton agree to vaccination, testing rules with bus tour operators | Outdoors
Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have authorized the resumption of large group tours with a few stipulations: all passengers must either be vaccinated for COVID-19 or tested 72 hours before the trip when the buses are full. Passengers are also required to wear masks.
“It’s a very reasonable approach,” said Pete Pantuso, president of the American Bus Association.
Last year, Yellowstone disallowed all bus traffic in the park to thwart the possibility of spreading COVID-19. This was on top of a delayed opening as the Park Service figured out how to reopen with a reduced staff to ensure separate housing, in addition to stepped up measures for cleaning public facilities.
Pantuso doesn’t expect charter and tour bus operations to see a lot of traffic until later in the summer and fall, but said he’s hearing from businesses that there is pent-up demand to travel, especially to more remote areas like national parks.
“Group travel is coming back,” Pantuso said. “There’s definitely a demand and interest for getting back out there.”
Industry hit
The number of buses visiting Yellowstone jumped from about 6,800 in 2013 to 12,800 by 2016. Each bus is capable of carrying about 50 passengers.
The tour side of the bus business took a huge hit last year, the ABA reported, similar to what the airline and cruise ship industries saw.
Nearly 3,000 motorcoach companies and 36,000 buses were “brought to a standstill,” according to ABA’s website. In a study released in September, the industry reported a drop in bookings or cancellation of 80% to 95% of charter motorcoach trips. This resulted in the loss of more than 60,000 jobs across the United States.
Pantuso said the three sectors of the busing business — which also includes passenger service like Greyhound as well as commuter buses — saw a combined drop from $15 billion in revenue in 2019 to $2 billion last year.
“This year we may hit $5 billion,” Pantuso said, but the industry lost about a quarter of its operators who either closed or temporarily halted service when business plunged.
“We think it will be a slow return,” he added, complicated by the fact that international travel is still stifled and the Canadian border remains closed to nonessential travel.
Tour bus visitation to Yellowstone had climbed in recent years, sparked by an increase in tours targeting Asian visitors.
Protocols
Morgan Warthin, Yellowstone public affairs officer, stressed it was the bus industry that offered up the idea of testing all riders or requiring vaccinations, not the Park Service’s.
“Importantly, this is not a ‘vaccine mandate’ imposed by Yellowstone, but rather a collaborative effort with the industry to allow operators to increase capacity,” Warthin wrote in an email.
“I couldn’t be happier with the working relationship we’ve had with Yellowstone, the superintendent and his staff,” Pantuso said.
Yet he added that the Park Service’s concerns about allowing buses in over the past year “was obviously misplaced.” He explained that charter operators have rules for cleanliness and know more about their passengers than tourists entering the park in their own vehicles.
Yellowstone’s North Entrance being rebuilt to accommodate more traffic
Visitation
Prior to the pandemic, bus traffic surged in Yellowstone, especially among Asian tourists. Chinese travelers accounted for about 60% of the Salt Lake Express tour bus company’s business in good years, a company representative said last year.
As restrictions on public gatherings and mask mandates dragged on last summer, people sought new ways to recreate. As a result, Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks saw increased visitation with September and October setting records.
Yellowstone superintendent Cam Sholly said he expects tourism to increase this summer, and more people to travel earlier. With the exception of last year, the park has averaged more than 4 million visitors a year since 2015. In 2019, those visitors spent $507 million in communities near the park.
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Restrictions
Bus charter providers will be anxious to meet Yellowstone and Grand Teton’s standards for vaccinations or testing because otherwise the parks will limit group tours to 50% capacity or 10 people, including the driver and guide, whichever is greater. Companies may apply for variances based on unique circumstances, such as large families traveling together, Warthin noted.
The details are outlined in the park’s 2021 Commercial Vehicle Occupancy Standards. The Park Service and tour operators have been in negotiations to outline the stipulations since October.
The parks also require the companies to provide a COVID-19 operating plan to the Concessions Management Office for approval. So far, Yellowstone has received 104 plans from tour operators.
“Like last year, parks will rely on the industry to follow the guidelines that have been agreed to,” Warthin said. “Commercial operators will attest to which operating model they intend to use and the attestations will be kept on file in the park.”
Commercial tour operators entering the parks will be required to have a printed copy of the form outlining which program they have chosen to operate under. This can be requested by law enforcement rangers.
Take a quick ride through America’s first national park, Yellowstone.
