WASHINGTON, D.C.—A coalition of tourism-related associations is asking Congress to require the National Park Service to undertake a formal regulatory rulemaking process before increasing entrance fees for tour groups.
The National Park Service (NPS) announced in October that it would double or triple entrance fees at 17 of the most popular federal parks to address $11.6 billion in needed repairs and improvements at the 417 national parks across the country.
After that proposal received overwhelmingly negative feedback during an extended comment period, the park service announced in April that it would impose more reasonable increases on fees charged individual vehicles or people. The effects of the second announcement on tour or charter group fees were not immediately apparent, but the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) has stated the April proposal does nothing to correct chronic problems associated with the National Park Service and may actually make things worse. The American Bus Association (ABA), similarly found the April proposal could require tour and charter operators to pay fees even higher than those listed in the rejected October plan.
A number of trade associations are lobbying Congress, the National Park Service and its parent organization, the Department of Interior, to change the latest proposal. The groups include ABA, UMA, National Tour Association, International Motorcoach Group, Western States Tourism Policy Council, and International Inbound Tourism Association.
The April plan for group fees would become effective on October 1, 2019. It would require tour or motorcoach operators to purchase a $300 Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) for every park it visits during a year, even if that park does not charge per-person entrance fees. In addition, operators would be required to pay an additional $5 per passenger as a “CUA management fee” to enter parks that do not charge individual entrance fees.
“On the surface, we cannot support anything that places charter bus operations in a position to be entrance fee collectors for the Park Service, shoulder accounting responsibilities, and subject themselves to possible audits,” said Ken Presley, vice president of legislative & regulatory affairs and industry relations/COO.
To illustrate the effects of these fees, ABA analyzed entrance chargers for Acadia National Park in Maine, one of the country’s most popular parks. With 50 passengers in a motorcoach and one annual visit, an operator now pays $150 in entrance fees and $200 for a CUA for a $350 total. The most recent version of the rules, however, would increase group fees to higher levels than were proposed last fall. According to ABA, the individual entrance fee for Acadia is anticipated to reach $15 by the end of next year and total $750 for a motorcoach carrying 50 passengers. To that would be added the $300 CUA fee and $250 for the CUA management fee, resulting in a total of $1,250.
“These decisions were adopted without real input or understanding of how our industry works and how it supports the National Park system,” said an ABA alert. “Further, their process lacked transparency, offering limited opportunity to work with us. We understand the needs faced by NPS, and want to work with the agency, but our industry should not bear the brunt of their $11.6 billion backlog.”
UMA
UMA’s approach is more measured and sees the current proposed changes as an opportunity to correct longstanding problems. Under the park service rules, chartered motorcoach companies do not meet the definition of road-based commercial tours if those services are not prepackaged by the motorcoach company.
“The tour operator packaging park visits is responsible for obtaining the CUA, not the charter bus company.” said Presley. “Somehow, over the years some parks began requiring both the tour operator and the charter bus company to purchase a CUA. We want to see and end to this practice as well as the elimination of park superintendent discretion regarding any CUA requirement.” UMA would like to see a uniform, online registration system for NPS that covers all parks similar to the Unified Carrier Registration system.
“We have seen an array of burdensome registration and fees simplified such as IFTA (International Fuel Tax Association), IRP (International Registration Plan). and UCR (Unified Carrier Registration),” Presley said, “yet the National Park Services is still plodding along different rules, registrations, and fees. It’s time consuming and subsequently wastes money. It can’t be good for the parks either.”
Following procedures
The industry groups are lobbying Congress to amend the 2019 federal appropriations bill to require the Department of Interior to undertake a new rule making on the group fees. This would be accomplished by directing the National Park Service to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act, which applies to many rules issued at the discretion of federal agencies and covering issues such as rates and costs. That act requires agencies to afford interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making by submitting written data and arguments.
Park needs
The national parks were visited by 331 million people in 2016. The October fee proposal, NPS estimated, would have increased park revenue by $70 million per year, a 34-percent increase over the $200 million collected from fees in fiscal 2016. The government received about 110,000 online comments on the proposal. The National Parks Conservation Association said it found that 98 percent of comments were critical of the hikes.
Since, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee boosted NPS funding in the 2019 budget bill it passed June 6. It voted to spend $2.5 billion on national parks for 2019, $102.7 million more than requested in the Trump budget.
Congress
“Ultimately, Congress will likely need to step in to address the issue as they have the oversight responsibility,” said Stacy Tetschner, UMA president & CEO. “Our legislative and regulatory team is currently determining the best venue to address Congress. We will be asking our members to weigh in with their legislators at the appropriate time.”
—Richard Stoff
