There’s no doubt about it, people on VanIsle love to camp. We really, really like to sleep outside. But finding a campsite in the summer can be tricky, especially since COVID.
So this year, the province is launching a new campsite booking platform. They hope the new platform is better than the old Discover Camping. When Discover Camping first launched, one Islander on Twitter said it “looked like 1992.”
It even crashed on its first day. There were heaps of booking errors. And coders figured out how to game the system, so they didn’t have to sit and refresh the page like the rest of us.
No one has seen the new booking platform yet, but we’ll get to start poking around on March 15th. The province is calling that date a “soft launch.” Folks can go to the platform and make an account, but no one will be able to book anything yet.
We’ll be able to book campsites starting at 7 am on March 21st.
According to BC Parks, the new system will be easier to use. But some aspects will be familiar. For example, the system will still use the two-month rolling booking window. So eager people who book on March 21s will be booking sites for May 21st at the earliest.
BC Parks says it’s also putting some measures in place to keep the site from crashing this year.
They’re bringing on extra staff to answer the phones at the call centre, beefing up their web servers to manage all the traffic, and using special software to streamline everyone trying to book.
They also say that they won’t put British Columbians at the front of the line like last year. Last year, the province decided to keep more campsites open for locals because of COVID.
This year, folks from all over the world will be able to book.
Check out the BC Parks video on the new service for a sneak peek at the site. Happy camping!
