Zion Canyon Tours Start In Las Vegas

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If you are an adventure tourist and are researching a trip to Zion Canyon, you may have perused some of the websites for travel companies who offer tours to that national park.  You may have also noticed that the majority of the companies that offer these tours do so as part of a larger package that involves several other parks as well, with at least one overnight camping stay in between stops.  You also might notice that the majority of these companies start their tours in Las Vegas.  Have you considered why these choices are being made?

Zion Canyon is one of the most popular national parks to visit at this point in time and is seeing record numbers of tourists due to an incredibly successful advertising campaign called "Find Your Park" which was launched by the US Parks Department a few years ago.  The idea was to increase tourism rates to national parks which had been seeing numbers falling steadily for years.  While the campaign was successful in raising visitor numbers at all national parks, Zion Canyon saw far larger increases than any other park.  This can be attributed to several factors, but most agree that these large increases are probably due to the proximity of the park to Las Vegas.  While you would think that people make their choices of which parks to visit based upon specific things that they want to see or do, but in reality, the convenience of the park itself factors into the decision.  Zion Canyon is only 2.5 hours drive from Las Vegas, which serves as a starting point for those wishing to visit national parks in the American southwest.  Most people who visit these parks do not live in the area and must fly into the city nearest by and then either rent a car or arrange transportation to the park itself.  Because Las Vegas is both close to Zion and set up appropriately as a tourist location itself, travelers find that flights in and out of Las Vegas are generally cheaper and more prevalent than to other cities.  In addition, Las Vegas has more hotel and restaurant choices than other cities, allowing visitors to visit national parks in the area in the middle of a vacation to Las Vegas.  It is theorized that these conveniences are one of the major reasons for this large increase in tourism.

Zion Canyon tours offered by the professional companies leaving from Las Vegas are generally within larger tours that visit several parks.  This is because the amount of driving time to Zion Canyon is significantly shorter than the drive time to the Grand Canyon, yet tourists would like to visit both.  It makes sense to offer several stops and create a "tour loop" of the parks because the distance from Zion to the Grand Canyon is less than going directly from Las Vegas.  This way, the tour companies can provide their customers with an enjoyable experience that provides several different parks with different features while minimizing the time that is spent getting to each park.  The parks themselves are closer to each other than they are to the nearest city, so hopping from park to park and then driving back gives customers more for their money.  By maximizing the exploration time and minimizing the drive time, a better experience is had by all.

Zion is usually the first stop on tours from Las Vegas, due to the fact that it is closer than the other parks.  If you are interested in touring Zion, make Las Vegas your starting point.  That way, you can experience the beauty of the southwest national parks and the bright lights of Vegas in the same trip!