Cape Hatteras National Seashore reports nearly 1,200,000 visitors during the first six months of 2023

With 1,192,372 visitors recorded from January through June, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) is on track to have another busy year in 2023.

Per statistics from the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, CHNS recorded 417,968 visitors in June, 248,371 visitors in May, 228,766 visitors in April, 147,925 visitors in March, 81,607 visitors in February, and 67,735 visitors in January.

In recent history, this is a slightly higher total than 2022, (which had 1,187,760 visitors in the first half of the year), but less than record-breaking 2021.

2021, (which was during the height of the pandemic), had the highest visitation ever recorded, and was also the first time that CHNS visitation surpassed the 3 million mark.

In 2022, the CHNS received a total of 2,862,844 visitors, which made it the third busiest year at the National Seashore on record, behind only 2021 and 2002.

Visitor totals for the past five years, per the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s statistics, are listed below.

Seashore visitation estimates are collected by counting southbound vehicles just north of the Marc Basnight Bridge and using a multiplier to estimate the total number of passengers heading south. Those estimates are added to the number of passengers going to Ocracoke Island from Cedar Island and Swan Quarter.