Park County's tourism numbers are slowly increasing as the state reopens.
Yellowstone National Park kept its gates closed until mid-May and both of its entrances in Wyoming opened for day use only.
Park County Travel Council Executive Director Claudia Wade said since then Cody and the county have seen a steady increase of tourists but nothing like what was originally predicted.
"[Some] figured there were people all over the country that were cooped up at home, and that once we got Yellowstone open and Wyoming open they would come in droves… I didn't see that happen," said Wade.
She said the community is really missing tourist bus groups, which usually depend on Cody as a home base. According to Yellowstone's current phased reopening, busses are not allowed in the park. But businesses are keeping busy.
"Lodging properties that say they were full for the first time one night last week which was encouraging but then not all of our lodging properties are open yet."
Wade said she's optimistic that the fall will look good as long as people continue to respect social distancing and there is no uptick of COVID-19 in Park County or surrounding counties and states.
Have a question about this story? Contact the reporter, Kamila Kudelska, at kkudelsk@uwyo.edu.
