BC launches new camp booking website in March | The Canadian News

It seems that British Columbia’s much-maligned Discover Camping booking site is on its way.

BC Parks said on its website on Friday that it was launching a new camping booking system in response to “visitor feedback” collected over the past two seasons.

Blowing up frustration about trying to book a campsite in BC has become almost as much of an annual tradition as camping outings themselves, with prospective campers regularly reporting website accidents or having trouble finding sites on the system’s opening day .

The province has tried several approaches to manage high demand, including increasing the number of campsites that are bookings only and creating a continuous booking period of two months.

According to BC Parks, the new booking system will continue BCparks.ca, and be open for bookings on March 21st.

“The new website includes more flexible search options to find and book a campsite, and handy maps, calendars and lists of available sites for faster navigation,” it said.

1:48Record demand for campsites collapses BC Parks online booking system

People will still be able to make reservations for Porteau Cove and the Garibaldi Backcountry through the old discovercamping.ca website until February 28th.

The new booking service will launch softly on March 15, enabling people to create an account, save booking details and explore the website.

Then, at 7pm on the 21st, the website will be available for bookings within a two month window.

The park service says it is taking measures to manage the expected high demand, including bringing extra staff to its call center, scaling up web servers to manage high traffic volume, and using queue access software to try to reduce peak demand.

It says the recent local residents’ first policy implemented by BC to accommodate greater demand from British Columbia due to the pandemic would not be in place for 2022.

You can find out more about the new camp booking system at bcparks.ca/reserve.