N.C.: State park visitors increase sharply

(Feb. 1, 2017) -- In 2016, the N.C. State Parks centennial year, attendance set a record for the third straight year with 18.8 million visitors. That’s up 9 percent from 2015 and a whopping 32 percent just since 2013. In the years prior to 2014, parks attendance had barely fluctuated for five straight years.