By Jill Ballinger
Gazette Editor

Yosemite National Park appears to be at least a little bit recession proof. As 2009 closed, the Park showed a five percent increase in visitors for the year, and that’s without the December numbers.

According to National Park Service figures, 3,751,916 people came to Yosemite from January to November, 2009. In 2008, total visitation was 3,557,961. It appears that the Mariposa-Yosemite Tourism Bureau’s first full year of marketing have paid off.

For the complete story on Park visitation in 2009, see the Jan. 7 edition of the Mariposa Gazette.