With 491,061 visits in July, 2021 could be the busiest year ever for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore

With 491,061 visits during the month of July, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) remains on pace to surpass the most recorded visits in a calendar year in 2021, per a recent update from the National Seashore.

To compare, CHNS had 451,849 visitors in July of 2020, a total of 438,846 visitors in July of 2019, and a total of 405,038 visitors in July of 2018, per the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.

Over the first six months of 2021, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, and Wright Brothers National Memorial experienced some of the highest levels of visitation ever recorded.

At Cape Hatteras National Seashore, visitation totals for January-June 2021 were 26% higher than the first six months of 2002, the year that currently has the distinction as being the busiest year on record.

Visitation totals through the first half of 2021 were also the fourth-highest ever at Wright Brothers National Memorial and the seventh-highest at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

2020 was also a record year for CHNS, with the highest visitation reported in 17 years.