What We Know About Trump’s $100 National Park Fee for International Tourists

Starting Jan. 1, visitors to the United States will have to pay $100 each to enter some of the country’s most popular national parks — on top of existing entry fees.

U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced over Thanksgiving week that entry fees for 11 national parks — including Yosemite National Park — are going up for foreign visitors only in 2026.

And while park entry fees for U.S. residents will remain the same, typically $35 per vehicle or $80 for an annual pass, as of Jan. 1, anyone who can’t prove their U.S. residency with a government-issued ID will have to pay the additional $100 at major national parks.

The announcement means a steep increase in national park fees for tourists to the U.S., who will also see the cost of buying an annual pass for themselves rise.

Keep reading for what we know about the new national park fees for 2026.

Jump straight to:

• How will fees for international travelers be enforced?
• What should U.S. residents know about entering national parks in 2026?

At which national parks do non-U.S. residents have to pay higher fees?

Starting Jan. 1, 2026, a $100 per-person fee — charged on top of the typical fee of $35 per vehicle — will apply to entry for foreigners ages 16 and older at 11 of the country’s most-visited national parks (see below).

A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior confirmed in an email to KQED that the new fees will apply for the amount of time the entry ticket is valid. For Yosemite, for example, the $100 per-person fee would be valid for seven days of entry to the park, just like the $35 vehicle fee.

In California, Yosemite National Park and Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks will be affected.

Elsewhere, other national parks where non U.S. residents will have to pay the extra fees are:

• Acadia National Park, Maine
• Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
• Everglades National Park, Florida
• Glacier National Park, Montana
• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
• Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
• Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
• Zion National Park, Utah

To date this year, these 11 parks have seen around a combined 23 million visitors. The National Park Service doesn’t currently track the proportion of visitors coming to parks from outside the U.S.

How much will an annual pass be for tourists to the U.S.?

Currently, an $80 annual National Park Service pass is available to all, with no residency requirements.

But as of Jan. 1, an annual national parks pass for non U.S. residents, which will allow free entry at any national park, will be $250 per passholder.

How will these fees for international travelers be enforced?

According to the Department of the Interior, all visitors age 16 and older with annual passes will be asked to present a U.S. government-issued photo ID at the entrance of every national park, such as a passport or state driver’s license.

Those who don’t have a U.S. ID to present “will be asked to upgrade to the nonresident annual pass,” a DOI spokesperson told KQED by email.

“Visitors will confirm their residency by providing a ZIP code when purchasing a pass online and must present a U.S. government-issued photo ID when using it,” the DOI spokesperson said.

What should U.S. residents know about changes to national parks entry next year?

To enforce annual pass compliance for non-U.S. residents, starting Jan. 1, all visitors age 16 and older with annual passes will be asked to present a U.S. government-issued photo ID to prove their U.S. residency. Currently, a national parks annual pass bears a message requiring the pass to be signed by the passholder, who must be present and provide “Valid Photo ID.”

This month’s DOI announcement also included the launch of digital annual passes for national parks, which can be bought and accessed online.

The new entry policies will also allow two motorcycles, rather than just one, to enter under a single annual park pass in 2026.

The lineup of the national parks’ fee-free days has also been altered. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth have been removed from the list of days on which visitors can enter the park for free. Flag Day on June 16, which is also President Trump’s birthday, has been added, as has Constitution Day on Sept. 17. The fee-free days, listed here, do not apply to non-U.S. residents.

Next year’s annual passes will also feature new graphics on the cards to commemorate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, featuring the faces of former President George Washington and President Trump.

Is there any way for international visitors to avoid the higher fees?

The new fees go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. But because annual passes are punched on the date of purchase and are valid for 12 months on a rolling basis, some online are recommending that non U.S. residents intending to visit any national parks in 2026 purchase a pass now under the current rate system, to save money next year.

A spokesperson for the DOI confirmed to KQED by email that “international visitors with a valid 2025 pass can use that pass until it expires.”

In response to the announcement, the Mariposa County Tourism Bureau published a guide to help foreign travelers navigate the new fee structure. In it, the organization recommends that most groups of international visitors who plan to visit more than one national park in 2026 purchase the $250 annual pass for non U.S. residents — but that solo travelers or couples who are only planning to visit one park, like Yosemite, should probably swallow the $100 per-person fee.

Elisabeth Barton, founding member and CEO of tour company Echo Adventure Cooperative, which operates guided tours in and around Yosemite and Stanislaus National Forest, said tour groups like hers are still waiting on specifics for how the fee change might affect groups entering the park. However, she’s expecting to know more details later in December.

Barton said she’s considering adding certain tours, like more of those operating just outside the park’s boundaries, to cater especially to international visitors in an attempt to keep costs down for them. She pointed to a number of rafting and Jeep tour operators who already offer these price-reduced tours.

In the meantime, she even recommended buying the $70 annual Yosemite-only pass as the best current option, “even though it is expensive,” — if only to avoid what she called the “demeaning” exercise of having to produce paperwork when entering and exiting the park.

“We don’t have the full picture yet,” she said.

Why is the U.S. government increasing national park fees for international travelers?

According to a DOI spokesperson, the fee increase is a direct response to President Donald Trump’s July 3 executive order that instructed the Interior Secretary to increase park pass rates for nonresidents.

Revenue from the increased fees is slated to go to park facility upgrades, maintenance and services, according to the Department of the Interior’s press release.

In their email to KQED, a DOI spokesperson argued that revenue from passes sold will “help keep our parks beautiful and running well, including for … the deferred maintenance backlog.”

“The nonresident surcharge is a small fraction of total trip costs (airfare, lodging, transport) for foreign tourists,” the statement read.

What concerns are already being raised about levying higher fees for parks on international tourists?

In response to the announcement, parks advocacy groups, including the Sierra Club and the Coalition to Protect National Parks, released statements condemning the coming changes.

In particular, these groups raised concerns about the burden of checking IDs on already overworked parks staff — as well as the potential that increased fees for foreigners could deter international travel to parks.

“If the administration wants to support the National Park System, we urge them to help ensure our national parks are fully funded and fully staffed,” Coalition to Protect National Parks Executive Director Emily Thompson said in an emailed statement to KQED. “That’s the answer rather than focusing on complicated directives that will only increase the workload for park staff already overstretched to keep everything running.”

The Center for Biological Diversity has also pushed back, filing a lawsuit on Dec. 10 that argues that both the America the Beautiful pass’s new graphics bearing President Trump’s face and the creation of a new non-resident pass option violate the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004.

Yosemite-based tour guides have also expressed concern that the new policy could create long wait times at park gates while IDs are being checked.

John DeGrazio, owner of Yosemite tour provider YExplore, said the rules may put park rangers — and even guiding businesses like his — in the uncomfortable position of asking for identification to determine U.S. residency, calling it “a stripping away of freedoms.”

The policy, fears DeGrazio, “could be a gateway: Are they gonna now position ICE agents at the entrance of national parks?”

“It kind of goes against the whole idea of going out and visiting our national parks,” he said.

The new policies could also put a deeper dent in the already precipitous drop in international tourism reported this year — with estimates as high as $30 billion lost this year due to fewer international visitors.

DeGrazio said he’s worried the parks fee increase will be an even further “inhibitor of visitation” to parks nationwide, shrinking demand for businesses like his.

And Echo Adventure Cooperative’s Barton said she’d already fielded a cancellation following the announcement, from an international tourist who’d planned to visit Yosemite in March.

Quoting the visitor, she said, “‘The cost is one thing, but just feeling that we get that we’re not wanted in the United States was enough for us to cancel our visit,’” Barton said. “And that broke my heart.”

How many foreigners typically visit these U.S. National Parks?

While the DOI doesn’t collect statistics on international parks visitorship, a spokesperson told KQED by email that the agency plans to begin doing so next year.

According to estimates from the U.S. Travel Association, around 35% of international travelers visited national parks as part of their trips in 2016 — and more than 14 million foreigners visited national parks in 2018.

DeGrazio said the number of international customers his Yosemite tour company sees has been going down steadily, from around 30% “a couple of years ago” to less than 10% this year — and is worried it could decrease even more as a result of the new fees.

“This is a terrible, short-sighted idea that will damage local businesses in and around the national parks,” he said. “Everyone believes that there is no positive outcome for a move like this.”

Barton said that changes to travel and immigration policies under President Trump had even left one family who had reserved cabins in the Yosemite area through her company with half their group unable to get into the country.

“We’re already seeing these policies affect our gateway communities, and this is just going to take it another step forward,” she said.

She also fears that Trump’s rhetoric around immigration has fueled what she calls “us versus them” conversations happening in rural communities where these national parks are located.

“What permission does that give folks, and how will that change the visitor experience?” she said. “I think that’s my biggest concern.”