NEW YORK, March 7 — The most popular national park in America last year was the Great Smoky Mountains, which attracted more than 11.42 million visitors in 2018.

That's according to the latest figures released by the US National Park Service (NPS). Overall, visits to national parks across the country were down by 12.67 million visits in 2018 compared to the previous year, at 318 million visits — a decrease of about 4 per cent.

Despite the decline, 2018 was still the third-highest year for recreational visits after 2016 and 2017. Record-keeping of visitor numbers began in 1904.

Overall, the NPS counts 418 national parks.  

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, and the Grand Canyon National Park have maintained a stronghold on the top two spots since 1990. 

Here are the top 10 national parks of 2018: 

1. Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 11,421,200 2. Grand Canyon National Park - 6,380,495 3. Rocky Mountain National Park - 4,590,493 4. Zion National Park - 4,320,033 5. Yellowstone National Park - 4,115,000 6. Yosemite National Park - 4,009,436 7. Acadia National Park - 3,537,575 8. Grand Teton National Park - 3,491,151 9. Olympic National Park - 3,104,455 10. Glacier National Park - 2,965,309 — AFP-Relaxnews