A smoke-filled summer with high gasoline prices poured on the fire didn't appear to discourage tourists from visiting Montana in 2007.

The two national parks that bookend the west-central part of the state reported strong year-over-year gains in visitation, with other attractions showing strong gains as well, according to figures released by Travel Montana.

Yellowstone National Park reported 2.86 million visitors between May and September, a 10.3 percent increase over 2006. At Glacier National Park, the 1.90 million guests in those five months represented a gain of 6.5 percent from the previous year.

"Glacier and Yellowstone had wonderful summers, and when they do well, that bodes well for the rest of the state, especially the surrounding communities," said Travel Montana spokeswoman Sarah Lawlor, who said Montana attractions overcame high gas prices and a number of high-profile forest fires to post solid visitation counts. "Overall the state had very strong visitation this summer."

Locally, results were mixed. Numbers were down substantially at the Gates of the Mountains, which was closed for a large portion of the peak season due to the Meriwether fire. Visitation was flat at the Montana Historical Society, where 26,753 passed through the doors between May and September, a gain of .2 percent over 2006.

The biggest gain locally was seen by the Last Chance Tour Train, which shuttled 15,881 visitors around town, a jump of 7.7 percent.

"I've been at this for 33 years, and this was the best increase I've ever seen from one year to the next," said tour train owner Lee Holmes. Even August, when smoke was heaviest in the Helena area, showed an increase of 10 percent.

Holmes said he isn't sure why, "but I'm not complaining about it."

Mike Mergenthaler, head of the Helena Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the summer was basically flat from the standpoint of hotel occupancy. Gains of 4 percent in June and August were offset by an 8 percent drop in July. Rates are up, he said, so the same number of guests means more revenue than in years past.

"It ended up being a wash as far as the summer months go," he said.

Elsewhere in Montana, one of the biggest gains was seen at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, where the King Tut exhibit helped fuel a 41 percent gain in summer visitation over 2006.

Two major attractions in Great Falls, the C.M. Russell Museum and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, each saw double-digit drops. The 21,795 visitors at the Russell Museum were 14.8 percent fewer than the year before, while tourists at the Interpretive Center fell 13.2 percent to 39,500.

Reporter John Harrington: 447-4080 or john.harrington@

helenair.com.