Increasing amounts of leisure time, higher levels of income, and improved transportation-related facilities contributed to rising park visitation during the 1950s. The annual average for the decade was more than one-third million, the totals ranging from a low of 306,668 in 1951 to a high of 370,554 in 1954. This rising visitation was encouraged by increasing exposure of the park in national travel periodicals such as Travel and Sunset. The growth in visitation led to innovations in entrance checking procedures, the most significant being issuance of entrance permits by machine in 1953. [57]
During the summer of 1950 a survey was conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior at Crater Lake National Park and Oregon Caves National Monument. The purpose of the survey was to determine tourist expenditures and travel occasioned by the two areas and examine the economic impact that they had in the general economy of the Rogue River Basin. The study provided a statistical breakdown of the travel flow through the park:
| Entering | Entering | Leaving | Total |
| North | 133,699 – 43.2% | 114,820 – 37.1% | 248,519 – 40.1% |
| East | 3,095 – 1.0% | 16,403 – 5.3% | 19,498 – 03.2% |
| South | 86,657 – 28.0% | 82,943 — 26.8% | 169,600 – 27.4% |
| West | 86,037 – 27.8% | 95,322 – 30.8% | 181,359 – 29.3% |
Other data obtained by the study included:
a. 87% planned in advance to visit the park.
b. The park was the principal objective of 63.4%.
c. 83% spent one day or less in the park.
d. 17% stayed overnight and remained an average 1.2 days in the park.
e. 14.1% reported a visit to Oregon Caves National Monument.
Vacation travel resulted in an expenditure of $3,945,000 within the southwestern section of Oregon. [58]
