Trump cancels free entry to National Parks on Martin Luther King Day

The two newest public holidays in the United States (US) are getting an unexpected downgrade.

Until now, Americans enjoyed free entry to the country’s National Parks on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day honouring the late civil rights leader, and also on Juneteenth, the federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery on 19 June.

But that tradition is now ending. Visitors will no longer be able to access National Parks for free on either of these holidays, and the changes don’t stop there, reports correspondent Adam Gilchrist.

“For tourists, the fee is going up double and almost triple in some cases,” he explains, also noting that several parks are set to increase their entrance fees significantly.

However, it’s not all bad news. The National Park Service has introduced a new free-entry day on the calendar, on Flag Day.

Observed annually in mid-June to celebrate the adoption of the US flag, the date also happens to coincide with another significant date: Donald Trump' birthday.

The Department of the Interior has released a full list of 'resident-only patriotic fee-free days' for 2026, and in addition to Trump's birthday, it also includes the Fourth of July weekend and President Theodore Roosevelt's birthday.