National Park Visits Are Surging, and One Firm Is Making Unexpected Millions

Booz Allen Hamilton earns millions from small fees paid by visitors to Recreation.gov when reserving national park spots, according to The Wall Street Journal.

April 6, 2023 . 6:51 PM

1 min read

Booz Allen Hamilton Inc earns a commission every time a user makes a reservation on Recreation.gov, per its government contract.
Booz Allen claimed it would receive $87 million over the first five years of the contract, but the company invoiced the government for over $140 million from October 2018 to November 2022.
Critics of the arrangement say the government has let a multibillion-dollar company profit by charging for access to public lands, access that used to cost less, or nothing.
The pay-per-transaction model has existed for federal reservation services like Recreation.gov since the mid-1990s.
Over 23 million people used Recreation.gov in the 2022 fiscal year to access spots across 13 different federal agencies.