Cape Hatteras sets visit record

Seashore likely will hit more than 3M guests for the year

With two months still to go, Cape Hatteras National Seashore broke its long-standing yearly visitation record with a busier than usual October.

The National Park Service recorded 2,937,999 visits to the seashore by the end of October, surpassing the previous yearly record of 2,923,894 in 2002.

“I am happy that so many people have been able to visit and enjoy the seashore and the local communities within Dare and Hyde counties during the first 10 months of 2021,” David Hallac, superintendent for National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said in a statement. “Not only is this year the busiest ever, but it is also likely to be the first time that America’s first national seashore reaches 3 million visits in a single year.”

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, the park service said.

Travelers have continued to flock to the Outer Banks since local officials lifted pandemic travel restrictions in May 2020. Meals and occupancy taxes broke records in 2020 and continued “historic highs” through August of this year, said Lee Nettles, executive director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.

Full-year visitation data for all the Outer Banks National Park Service sites, which include the seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Wright Brothers National Memorial, will be released early next year.