ST. LOUIS — The Gateway Arch National Park said visitations to the national monument increased about 41% in 2022 to 1.62 million people, an increase of nearly 475,000 over the prior year.
But the park still has a lot more ground to gain to get back to pre-pandemic visitation levels.
In 2019, nearly 2.1 million people visited the Arch, according to National Park Service data, 500,000 more than in 2022. And even 2019's figure was off from prior years.
Data from Emerald Capital Strategic Partners suggests getting back to pre-pandemic numbers for visitors could be difficult.
Reasons for this prediction vary, but there is one common thread: crime.
City police have said Downtown and Downtown West counted 884 person crimes in 2022, up from 819 in 2021. Person crimes is a broad category that includes, among others, rape, murders and assaults, which accounted for the vast majority of crimes in the city report.
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