Parks Canada sees increase in campsite reservations in Alberta

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — As Shakespeare wrote, “Now is the winter of our discontent”, and Canadians cannot wait until it is made glorious summer.

Parks Canada opened up campsite reservations for the upcoming season in Alberta on Wednesday and saw a major increase in demand.

“We were quite busy. So we saw a thirty per cent increase on opening day this year compared to opening day last year,” said Jed Cochrane, Acting Visitor Experience Manager for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.

Clearly, campers cannot wait for the winter to come to a close and this also has Parks Canada excited for the upcoming season.

“It’s great, lots of people planning ahead and getting their sites booked,” said Cochrane.

READ MORE: Parks Canada reservations open soon

Demand was so high on Wednesday morning that there were some hiccups on the website, but to Cochrane’s knowledge there were no serious issues and everyone who was in the queue was able to make a reservation.

Reservations for Yoho and Kootenay National Parks opened on Thursday morning, and demand has already been high for those areas as well.

Those parks also feature a couple of new sites.

“Both Kicking Horse and Monarch in Yoho are new on the reservation system this year,” said Cochrane. “And then in Kootenay, we have McLeod and Marble, our two campgrounds In Kootenay that are new on the site as well this year.”

Looking for adventure? @YohoNP and @KootenayNP are waiting for you too! Book your #2019Camping trip on January 10! ⛺ https://t.co/raI7JNR346 @HelloBC #ExporeBC pic.twitter.com/VUCRIWbAbI

— Parks Canada (@ParksCanada) January 8, 2019

Despite this increase, there are still many spots available, but Cochrane advises prospective campers to try and book it off as soon as possible.

“The earlier the better when you’re planning on coming to the parks. We know there’s lots of people that want to come and enjoy it, so the sooner you can plan out your weekends and your vacations here and get your sites reserved and your ideas on what you’re going to be doing, that’s great. Also to pay attention to our website, watch for things like our shuttle systems that we’ll have running in Banff and in Lake Louise to help people get to some of those busier spots.”