Letter: Raising park fees? What about all that resort money?

The National Park Service’s intent to impose much higher entrance fees is ridiculous. The whole scheme is predicated on parks’ reliance on entry fees to remain viable.

What about the tremendous revenue from room rentals, restaurants, stores and tourist services taken into park properties throughout the year? Prices are the same as private resorts around the country. The revenue has to be an enormous amount. Where does this revenue go? It is expensive to run these facilities, but the profit margin has to be sufficient to run the parks in their entirety, with money left over to take care of roads and infrastructure.

It is suspicious that all the revenue and profit would go to the park contractors. Some significant percentage should go directly to the parks where the revenue is generated. The proposed fees are out of reach for a significant portion of the U.S. population. These parks are a birthright for U.S. citizens — the parks should not become elitist operations.

Use in-park resort revenue to run the parks.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 6:53 PM with the headline "Letter: Raising park fees? What about all that resort money?."