BC Parks Changing Camping Reservations To Ensure Fairness For Users
BC Parks camping reservations have been on the rise over the past few years, however that has also lead to a growing issue with "campsite scalpers". In 2016, BC Parks became aware of 46 incidents of attempts to resell Discover Camping reservations (out of more than 185,000 reservations made as of mid-September).
Starting January 2nd, 2017...
- There will no longer be a mid-March “opening day” for reservations and the three-month rolling reservation window will be extended. This should help the booking system that can become overwhelmed when there is a single opening day.
- Reservations for the 2017 season can be made four months in advance of an individual campground’s first reservable date.
- At least one of the permit holders must be present during the stay, and identification may be required to keep the reservation valid.
- When a customer makes a reservation, they will be required to provide one or two permit holder names to be registered. These names cannot be changed at a later date.
This will remove ability for someone to resell a reservation, then later change the permit holder’s name to a third party name.
There is also a pilot project to create more camping opportunities in high demand parks such as Martha Creek (near Revelstoke), Mount Fernie (near Fernie), Porteau Cove (near Vancouver), Loveland Bay (near Campbell River) and Ellison (near Vernon)....
- The 14-day maximum stay policy will be shortened to seven days in five high-occupancy campgrounds during the peak season (June 15 to Labour Day inclusive).
- Implementing a seven-night maximum stay policy in high demand campgrounds during peak season creates camping opportunities for more families.
Reducing the maximum time a party can stay in these campgrounds is projected to create more than 1,000 campsite/night vacancies, freeing up space for more people to stay at these high-demand campgrounds.
“We want to make sure the campsite reservation service is doing its job as effectively and efficiently as possible. We know British Columbians want a reservation system that is fair, and that they have just as good a chance of securing a campsite as the next person. The changes we’re bringing in for 2017 address policies that are prone to abuse by a small number of people and contribute to positive camping experiences in our beautiful BC Parks.”
Photo by BC Parks. To see all the changes, head over to The Government of British Columbia's news release.
