| Hey, sun seekers, it’s Nikki Ekstein—travel editor and the current reigning cheerleader of the “hot Caribbean summer.” This weekend, I’m off to Turks & Caicos, a choice I normally wouldn’t have thought prudent in mid-July—but then I saw the flight prices and compared the destination’s average temperatures to those of Greece and the Hamptons. Turns out, wind-swept Caribbean islands are typically cooler than both of those other summer hot spots. While climate change is transforming our summer vacation patterns in many ways—like Scandinavian “coolcations”—these shifts are simply intended to keep us more comfortable as luxury travelers. But a trend playing out here in the US shows the inverse is true too: With our growing appetite for national parks, the destinations themselves are increasingly relying on travelers to help protect them. When I first wrote about this dynamic in Businessweek’s summer travel special back in May, the tourism industry was just beginning to contemplate the role it could play if proposed budget cuts left these fragile places understaffed and underfunded. Hotels and tour operators were already coming up with great ideas and contingency plans, even with so much still unknown. Now, with Trump’s budget bill having cleared its legislative hurdles, some of those questions have been answered. About $267 million that would ordinarily cover the salaries of national parks staff is now being clawed back; zooming out, the proposed 2026 national parks budget is a mere third of what it was in 2024, while visitation only continues to grow. A separate executive order suggests that charging international visitors more to see these places will help make up some of those losses.  That’s hardly the full extent of the damage. Other departments that help manage public lands are also being gutted, and provisions in the bill will open 200 million acres of protected territory for oil and gas leases. It’s a formula that American Progress, a nonpartisan policy institute, expects to yield a ratio of 1 park ranger to 16,000 visitors across the country’s most fragile places—“the equivalent of a single park ranger overseeing the 1.2-million-acre Grand Canyon National Park alone for a whole day,” it wrote in a recent report.  Visitors along the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona earlier this May. Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg Here’s the good news: Travel companies whose business relies on the preservation of national parks are stepping up in a big way, and you can participate in their efforts. Take tour operator Intrepid Travel. Not only have its executives recently created a series of “Active-ism” tours to places like Zion National Park and Monument Valley—each one led by leading public lands advocates or environmental activists—they have also formed a lobbying group with members of the US Tour Operators Association. This collective of travel companies has already stormed congressional offices (figuratively!) to address national parks’ investment and infrastructure needs, along with ways to improve travel sentiment and visa access for international visitors coming to the US. Leigh Barnes, Intrepid Travel’s president of the Americas, tells me that the itineraries “give people an experience of the national parks that comes with a toolkit on how you can take action,” while the lobbying effort gives voice to the tourism-reliant small businesses in park-adjacent towns. To help create immediate impacts—and opportunities for travelers to fall in love with these epic places—Intrepid is discounting its American trips by 20% this summer. Campspot, which is like an Airbnb for camping and glamping—both in national parks and in other beautiful places—is also offering $20-per-night deals this month. And at AutoCamp hotels, which largely consist of renovated Airstreams near national parks, a new program is getting displaced NPS staff to create on-property programs in exchange for temporary accommodations; guests at the Joshua Tree, Yosemite, and Sequoia and Zion locations can also get 25% off stays through Sept. 3. It’s worth clarifying that these promotions aren’t happening because demand is down. Luxury outfitter Black Tomato, which usually offers trips to far-flung destinations, told me this week that bookings for national parks and western US itineraries have had “tremendous growth” this year. Meanwhile, a broader Harris Poll of 2,000 US adults this June showed that 81% of Americans want to support national parks by visiting one this summer. All of which is to say: What are you waiting for? Go explore the great American outdoors. You might just play a small part in saving it along the way. | 
