Opening day for B.C. Parks online reservation system goes smoothly this time

Things went much better during this year’s initial rollout of British Columbia’s parks online camping reservation system.

B.C. Minister of Environment George Heyman told a media conference today, March 8, that 6,000 reservations made this morning.

The system was flooded with more than 50,000 campers trying to reserve a site when it opened on May 25, 2020, causing the server to shut down.

“It was a great learning experience that we went through last year. We saw a lot of frustration and we some added capacity to ensure people could make their bookings in a timely and orderly manner this year," Heyman said. "It appears to be working very well."

Campers are able to book in a two month rolling window. Reservations can be made for arrival dates up to and including May 8 as of this morning.

Golden Ears Provincial Park sold out almost immediately, Heyman said, with Easter weekend (April 3 to 5) being the bestselling weekend to date as 340 sites were fully booked almost immediately.

“The system is working much better than last year. It hasn’t crashed and we’ll be looking into any issues,” the minister said in response to a report some users were forced to refresh their browsers this morning and then lost their bookings.

Heyman said there were a large number of people waiting to get on the system first thing this morning.

“There are more spaces available, and more coming,” he said regarding further booking opportunities.

B.C. Parks has also implemented steps to prevent block booking of sites. This year people were also asked to confirm their residency.

British Columbia residents will be given priority over out of province campers until July 8.

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