Already valued at an estimated $185 billion, the worldwide ecotourism segment is expected to exceed $374 billion in global impact within the decade.
21.07.2023 - 13:15 / insider.com
When I planned a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, I wanted two things: nature and comfort. In April, when I spent a long weekend in the area, I found both while staying in a luxury tent close to the national park.
Under Canvas is a glamping resort that has locations near national parks around the country, from Zion and Moab to Glacier and Yellowstone. I spent one night at the resort's Great Smoky Mountains location and preferred it over my other stays during the trip in cozy cabins that I found on Airbnb.
I booked a Stargazer tent for $400 with a media rate. Without the rate, it was priced at $520 — making it more expensive than all of my cabin stays. But I thought it was worth it. At Under Canvas, I felt more connected to nature than I did in the cabins — all while sleeping in a king-sized bed. Here's what it was like.
Already valued at an estimated $185 billion, the worldwide ecotourism segment is expected to exceed $374 billion in global impact within the decade.
American tourists don't always have the best reputation abroad, but it can be amusing to see how other countries view US culture.
In the century-plus since its inception in 1910, Glacier National Park in northwest Montana — the Crown of the Continent — has seen drastic changes.
Visiting at night and taking free public transportation are just two of the ways the National Park Service is encouraging visitors to go green.
The chance to spot a bear, bison, or bald eagle in the wild is one of the major reasons travelers visit the United States’ 63 national parks. You might assume that a megafauna mecca like Yellowstone National Park would offer the best odds of seeing multiple animals.
Delta is all in on Seattle.
When the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) proposed drastic hikes to admission fees last fall, the reaction was swift and negative. It seems the NPS heard what people will saying.
If you’re planning on visiting any of these destinations, you should read up on how to spot bedbugs in your hotel room (and what to do about it). Pest control company Orkin just released its list of the top cities for bedbugs, using data from both residential and commercial (i.e., vacation rentals and hotels) calls. Orkin noted which destinations had more bedbug outbreaks (Los Angeles, for example, moved up two spots on the list), and which had fewer (good job, New York, dropping four places).
Centrally located within walking distance of Nashville’s most famous attractions—like the Grand Ole Opry and Madame Tussauds Nashville—and just a 10-minute shuttle ride from the airport, the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center has long been a luxury destination in Music City. But last December, the resort added a whole new reason for families to visit: America’s first upscale indoor-outdoor water park, called SoundWaves, a sprawling four-acre, three-level playground filled with one-of-a-kind water experiences.
Glacier National Park is one of the most gorgeous parks in the national park system. The sprawling park is in northern Montana and is home to some of the oldest glaciers in the US — not to mention wildlife like grizzly and brown bears, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pumas, wolves, elk, moose, and more. The park has gorgeous day hikes running between half a mile or 20 miles, and some of the best backcountry backpacking in the US. You can even hike from the US into Waterton Lakes National Park, the attached national park just on the other side of the US-Canada border.
Tsingy National Park (full name: The Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park) is a national park in Madagascar. The name “tsingy” comes from a Malagasy word meaning “walking on tiptoes,” which is an apt description of the landscape of the park. It is known for its unique karst formations, formed by rain that dissolved the soft limestone over time, creating sharp, rocky spires.
Winter may not seem like the ideal time to visit the wilds of a national park, but really there’s no bad time to enjoy the beauty of America’s public lands. Some national parks in temperate or even tropical climates are better to visit in winter when they’re free from the scalding heat of summer. If you don’t mind the potential for a bit of snow, you’ll enjoy relative quiet in some of the larger parks visited en masse during warmer months.