Welcome to Yosemite! Now pay up — and don’t deface your parks pass | Opinion
.jpg "International visitors are now charged $100 per person to visit 11 national parks, including Yosemite.")
As if deportations, tariffs and imperialist threats weren’t enough, now there’s another reason for residents of foreign countries to avoid vacationing in the United States.
The federal government is gouging them.
On Jan. 1, a new fee kicked in for international tourists visiting 11 of our most popular national parks, including two in California — Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon.
Under the Trump administration’s “America First” pricing, international visitors are charged $100 per person. That’s on top of the usual fee of $35 per vehicle. That works out to $235 for a couple — even more if they bring kids along, though children under 16 are free.
True, that’s still less than Disneyland. Besides, if tourists from abroad are already springing for plane tickets, rental cars, hotels, meals, postcards, Mickey Mouse sweatshirts, etc., what’s a few hundred bucks extra for a trip to Yosemite, right?
Wrong, according to some social media posts from international travelers.
“We’re cancelling (a visit to Yosemite) and will do something else more affordable,” a New Zealander wrote on Reddit. “I read some politician’s comment that if overseas visitors were coming for a few weeks, then this additional cost is ‘nothing.’ Well it ain’t ‘nothing’ when you’ve had to save hard for over a year to afford the trip. It’s a tough ask at the last minute.”
Say goodbye to goodwill
International tourists also are charged more for the vaunted America the Beautiful Pass, good for unlimited admission to all national parks for one year. Locals pay $80 per person. International guests pay $250 per person.
But this isn’t just about the money. It’s the principle.
Whatever happened to hospitality? Isn’t there something to be said for welcoming visitors by proudly showing off our national treasures?
Instead, we’re soaking foreign visitors for every last nickel when they already contribute billions of tourist dollars to the American economy each year. That’s not earning us any goodwill.
If our National Parks are in such dire need of revenue, it would make more sense to raise everyone’s fee by a nominal amount — say $5. Or reduce the number of free admission holidays, starting with Flag Day, which coincidentally coincides with Donald Trump’s birthday. (By the way, overseas guests are still charged the $100 a pop on “free admission” days.)
Lax enforcement at the entry gates
It appears that some international visitors may be dodging the onerous fees, at least for now.
According to The Washington Post, park personnel are not checking IDs. Instead, they are asking drivers how many members of their groups are not citizens or legal residents, and then taking them at their word.
That lack of enforcement may have something do to with the nearly 25% reduction in permanent staff that occurred during the DOGE days.
But the laxity may not last. When the Trump administration figures out the current system isn’t working too well, it might consider beefing up staffing — maybe by assigning some ICE agents to ID visitors. Two birds, one stone.
While they’re at it, the gate enforcers might also check to make sure those America the Beautiful Passes have not been defaced. In case you haven’t heard, the 2026 passes have been redesigned to feature the faces of George Washington and Donald Trump together.
Apparently, some nature lovers prefer flora and fauna to presidential mugs, and they’ve been covering up the faces with specially made stickers featuring bears and mountains and howling wolves.
The Trump administration was not amused; the higher-ups let it be known, via a leaked memo, that any passes that are “defaced” will be voided.
Not to worry. Frommers reports that someone is marketing $12 plastic sleeves that fit snugly over the passes — no adhesive required. The sleeve can be removed when entering a park and then popped back on, “giving your tired eyes a break from perhaps the most overexposed mug on earth,” Frommers tells us.
For those of you on a budget, there’s an even less expensive alternative. Buy a clear plastic credit card sleeve (Amazon sells 16 for just $5.99) and put the sticker of your choice on the outside.
Added bonus: It would be a great way for international tourists to protect those $250 passes.
