April visitation to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park increased 8 percent. (The Herald/NPS)

Great Smoky Mountains National Park saw an 8 percent jump in visitors during April 2012 as compared with April 2011.

Year-to-date visitation is up by 14.9 percent which works out to 257,000 more people than last January through April.

Visitation at all of the three main entrances increase this April with Gatlinburg seeing a 3.9 percent increase, Townsend having a 9.2 percent increase and Cherokee experiencing a 2.8 percent increase.

The 13 outlying entrances also saw an increase, and combined were up 18 percent compared to April 2011.

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