Smokies visits up 3.2 percent in September

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park continues to see more visitors than a year ago, with a 3.2 percent increase recorded in September.

The nation's most-visited park reported Wednesday that 845,000 people came to the park last month, a jump from 820,000 people during September 2008.

Smokies spokesman Bob Miller says this is a shift in the right direction, but he notes that visitation in 2008 was way down from 2007.

At the park's main entrances, Gatlinburg was up 8.3 percent in September, Townsend was up 13.8 percent and Cherokee, N.C., was unchanged.

Year-to-date visits are up by 5.7 percent over 2008 with 7.2 million this year and 6.8 million last year.