US national park gateway towns ‘devastated’ as visitors stay away amid pandemic

Communities that rely on a steady stream of tourists are suffering financially as locals can't make up for the loss in visitor spending

On a normal Saturday in August, Mara Goodman would see up to 300 visitors at her job at the Mariposa county visitor center located on Highway 140, one of the major routes into Yosemite national park.

But it's been months since Goodman saw a normal Saturday. This year, she's more likely to get 30 visitors on a good day. That's partly because Yosemite, which reopened in early June after a two-month closure, is only admitting half of its normal number of daily visitors due to the coronavirus.