The association works with the National Park Service to preserve and protect park resources while ensuring visitor accessibility and enjoyment.  While achieving this simple-sounding mission often means resolving complex problems, the partnership between concessioners and the National Park Service has probably never been stronger. Together, the two groups are committed to working through challenges of under-funding and differing priorities among visitors, environmental groups, concessioners and the National Park Service.

�There are some people who would like to perpetuate the myth that businesspeople operating in the parks are merely out to make a buck at any cost, when in fact concessioners are deeply committed to working with the National Park Service to preserve the parks for future generations,� said Andrew N. Todd, chairman of the National Park Hospitality Association. 

�While all of us are in business to be successful, we wouldn�t be working in the parks if we didn�t also have a fundamental commitment to ensuring our parks are accessible today to anyone who wants to come while at the same time preserving parks for visitors of tomorrow.�
 NPHA monitors and backs legislation in support of the parks, assists the National Park Service with educational and interpretive programs for visitors, and works on programs that promote park access and protect park resources.

Visitor Access

Maintaining and improving visitor access to people of all ages and physical abilities is a top priority for the association, and members acknowledge that the goals of park preservation and visitor access can sometimes be viewed as conflicting. 

�An arch at the northern entrance to Yellowstone  � the country�s first national park � is inscribed: �For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People,�� noted Todd. �Sometimes we all need to remind ourselves why we have the national park system in the first place. While all of the people who work in and for the parks are committed to park preservation, we must remember that parks are being preserved for visitors, not for the sake of preservation alone.�

Environmental Stewardship

Many members of the National Park Hospitality Association have participated in meetings with high-ranking National Park Service staff for open dialogue about environmental stewardship. What participants discovered was concessioners had already implemented many creative and successful programs to preserve the parks where they operate. The programs were not simply implemented because of contractual requirements in many cases but rather were funded voluntarily by the concessioners. They were implemented, as one concessioner put it, simply �because it was the right thing to do.�

�Concessioners are committed to taking good care of park resources in part because they are business people,� noted Todd. �If they lose the resources, they risk losing the business. In many cases, concessioners are going way beyond mere compliance with National Park Service standards.�

The Future

While the name of the organization has changed five times � it was changed to National Park Hospitality Association in 1993 � the group�s fundamental mission has changed little since 1929, when a group of concessioners formed �The Conference of National Park Operators.� Horace M. Albright, director of the National Park Service at the time, wrote: �An outstanding accomplishment of this meeting was the formation of an organization of operators to work together for their mutual benefit and for the best interests of the visiting public.�

The National Park Hospitality Association of the future will continue to keep the interests of the visiting public in the forefront as it works with legislators to achieve and maintain a favorable park climate, ensures access to the parks for anyone who wants to visit and educates the public to preserve and protect the parks for the future.