Thousands of people bogged down Parks Canada's online camping reservation system, Jan. 13, as they rushed to book campsites in Jasper National Park.
According to Ed Jager, Parks Canada’s director of visitor experience, 5,165 people made reservations in JNP on the first day.
That’s down from last year when 5,934 people made online reservations on April 1, 2015.
Despite the drop in reservations, some users reported they were unable to access the site when it went live at 8 a.m.
“The only minor issue we had was for a couple hours in Jasper there was quite a bit of demand and the reservation service provider restarted a couple of their servers,” said Jager.
Parks launched its online camping reservation system three months earlier than last year to make it easier for visitors to plan their trips in advance and to compete with other provincial parks, which open their reservation systems early.
To ensure the reservation process went smoothly, Parks launched it in stages for the 27 national parks and historic sites across the country.
Backcountry reservations in JNP open on Jan. 28 at 8 a.m.
“Traditionally we’ve always seen lots of demand on launch days,” said Jager.
“Our expectation was that on launch day we’d actually see less demand because there’s maybe not quite as many people who are ready to make their travel plans.”
Nationally, Jager said reservations were down by about 15 to 20 per cent compared to last April.
“That’s partly what we were expecting, as fewer people would be ready this soon to make their travel plans, but it’s also part of what we’re hoping for so that when people arrive on launch day there aren’t long line ups or phone lines or they aren’t getting the spinning wheel of death on their Internet browser because there’s just way too many people on the system.”
He said the real test will be to compare the number of reservations made during the first three months of the year versus the number of reservations made in April and May.
“We’re really interested to see what the results are going to be when we get to the April/May period to make a true comparison,” he said.
To book a campsite, visit www.reservation.parkscanada.gc.ca. Alternatively, people can still book backcountry campsites by calling 1-877-RESERVE.
Paul Clarke
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