If there is any doubt that it’s getting harder to get a campground reservation, simply look north of the U.S. border to Alberta for some evidence.
Albertans looking for a way to be active and outdoors while adhering to public health measures have overwhelmingly turned to one activity during the pandemic — camping.
According to CTV News, numbers from the province show a massive jump in provincial park campsite reservations in recent months, going from 5,209 in September 2019 to 286,657 in September 2020 — an increase of more than 5,400 per cent.
July 2019 saw 34,008 reservations, which jumped to 236,432 in July 2020; in June it went from 32,632 in 2019 to 181,570 in 2020; and May saw numbers more than double year-over-year, going from 40,893 in 2019 to 90,012 this year.
The numbers mark when reservations were made, rather than when they were used.
“This year was absolutely bananas,” said Clay Geddert, a manager at Camper’s Village, a retail store in southeast Calgary. He noted that new users made up a majority of the customers his park is seeing.
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