Alberta Parks campsite bookings increased over 100% from 2020

Thursday marked opening day for Alberta Parks individual campsite bookings, and the online system received a record-breaking amount of reservations, proving just how much Albertans love the great outdoors.

After 2020 saw the province’s busiest camping season to date, Albertans jumped on the opportunity to make their summer plans as soon as possible this year.

According to Alberta Environment and Parks, as of 4 pm on Thursday, 21,398 campground reservations had been made.

At 10,801 more bookings made than on the opening day of reservations in March 2020, this is greater than a 100% increase.

There were also 105,548 user sessions on the reservation system through the course of the day, which is over four times higher than last year’s opening day.

• See also:
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  • What you need to know about Alberta Parks camping reservations
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If you didn’t get the spot you wanted, don’t fret.

“Many great sites and dates are still available,” said Environment and Parks. “In fact there are sites at 26 campgrounds with reservations still available for the May long weekend.”

“There are always cancellations that happen, so check the Monday or Tuesday before the weekend of arrivals for availability,” Environment and Parks added. “We will also have 5,000 first-come first-served sites across the province.”

 

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Comfort camping reservations opened Friday at 9 am, and these campsite bookings can be made up to 180 days in advance of your planned arrival date.

Reservations for backcountry and individual campsites are only available for arrival dates up to 90 days in advance, while group camping remains closed at this time due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions.