鈥淥verwhelming numbers鈥� of people trying to reserve campsites on the first day of availability led to technical problems with bookings on the sa国际传媒 Parks Discover Camping website, the Ministry of Environment says.
Some took to social media to complain about not being able to get their summer vacations squared away.
Would-be campers said they were greeted with busy signals on the reservation phone line and error pages online. Some said they got as far as entering payment information, only to have the web page crash.
Last year at this time, the system was busy with 1,100聽reservations in one day. Monday saw 800 reservations processed in the first half hour alone, the ministry said.
鈥淢ore than 50,000 people were online at opening trying to simultaneously access the system.鈥�
The system went live at 7 a.m. The ministry said 35,000 bookings had been made before noon Monday, with more being processed at a rate of 10 reservations per second.
鈥淲hile we made efforts to be ready for additional demand, this rate of reservations exceeds those seen anywhere,鈥� the ministry said. An apology was issued to people unable to access the system: 鈥淲e thank everyone for their patience and encourage them to keep trying.鈥�
The ministry noted that a two-month 鈥渞olling window鈥� for bookings 鈥� meaning bookings can be made a maximum of two months in advance 鈥� means new options will come online each day.
鈥淪o there are still lots of opportunities coming up to book campsites throughout the last week of July and all of August.鈥�
Liberal environment critic Peter Milobar, MLA for Kamloops North Thompson, said COVID-19 might account for some of the increased interest in camping reservations, but more preparation was needed to take bookings.
鈥淚 think if you look at the opening day of the reservation system in general, it鈥檚 incredibly busy,鈥� he said, adding that the demand should not have come as a surprise. He said he knows a lot of people who had trouble getting through to make a reservation.
鈥淚鈥檝e tried going on myself,鈥� he聽said. 鈥淚 get the frustration totally.鈥�
Joss Penny, who chairs the Camping and RVing Coalition of sa国际传媒, said the COVID-19 pandemic has altered summer travel plans for many people, 鈥渂ut camping locally in sa国际传媒 parks or recreation sites might be the break you need.鈥�
Most provincial campgrounds and backcountry camping areas will be open as of June 1 following a closure of the entire parks system as part of preventive measures against COVID-19.
Reservations are available only to residents of sa国际传媒
Facilities such as playgrounds and picnic shelters in provincial parks will remain closed. Physical-distancing requirements will be in effect at all sites.
