Canadian Camping outlook or No Alaska this year

Reisender wrote:

shum02 wrote:
Ontario Provincial Parks are presently closed. If you did not book anything already for July and August you are probably pooched. At least for the big popular parks. If you don't mind driving up North of North Bay you MIGHT get something.

Wow. They are all open in BC...and mostly packed.

So would they be here if they where open. Think about it, the Province saves money when they are closed. Ontario Parks only recoup around 80% of the money it cost to service a site through reservation's. If there is no one there no staff is required and they do no maintenance. Win, win.

The issue for Alaska is the loss of cruise ships that, because of foreign registry, stop in Canada before entering Alaska from another U.S. port.

The loss of RV traffic through Canada will obviously have some impact, but the big "tourist" dollars come from cruise ships and their leveraging effect, not RV travel. When a ship of 1500 pax makes 4 stops in a SE Alaska circuit, the $$ loss is significant if that ship simply cancels it's Alaska trips.

The "not-reliant-on-cruise-ship" tourist businesses are doing well. A couple of remote lodge clients of mine are fully booked for the year; BIL who has an air taxi operation got all of his planes ready this year based on confirmed reservations; some local sightseeing flights and boats are booked at least 45 days in advance (although admittedly some still operating at reduced capacity).

shum02 wrote:
Ontario Provincial Parks are presently closed. If you did not book anything already for July and August you are probably pooched. At least for the big popular parks. If you don't mind driving up North of North Bay you MIGHT get something.

Wow. They are all open in BC...and mostly packed.

Ontario Provincial Parks are presently closed. If you did not book anything already for July and August you are probably pooched. At least for the big popular parks. If you don't mind driving up North of North Bay you MIGHT get something.

Grit dog wrote:
Yup, just when ya think the US is over the top with restrictions, along comes Canadia....”Hold my beer, eh....”

We just don't want to share our good beer! :B

Things are getting better so I think restrictions will start lifting soon. Most campgrounds are booked solid, though, so good luck getting in anywhere. :M

Campgrounds are booked pretty solid in BC. No lack of people going camping here. The RV sales lots are looking pretty bare to. Numbers are dropping off quick here and vaccinations going well. My guess is by first week of June there will be some serious lifting of restrictions. The restrictions aren’t keeping people from going camping, they are just staying closer to home.

I have found it difficult to get reservations in my own back yard.

After much digging and visiting the booking site, I managed to get us 4 nights in Banff. But I could only get something for the end of May.

Better than nothing.

We managed to snag only 3 nights in June at another lake we like. Everything else was booked solid.

The one that concerns me is our 2 weeks booked at Fairmont in BC. Will we be able to cross into BC? Unknown.

Common sense will prevail. No mingling with anyone, no tourist stuff, none of that. We will stay to ourselves, go for walks or drives with our cameras and just enjoy time under the awning.

As long as we can make it there....

JaxDad wrote:
A news item last week was stating that there’s a new outbreak in the most highly (per capita) vaccinated nation in the world.

Just more than 37% of those cases are people that are fully (2 shots plus time for it to do it’s thing) vaccinated.

Common-sense restrictions are not unnecessary.

Vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine. That may or may not apply to vaccinations with the US vaccines. Time will tell. However, I agree that it is too soon to relax masking and social distancing.

Alaska will see some impact in the areas that rely heavily on cruise ships but other areas are booked solid. Both the lodges I'm staying at in June are booked. What the remote lodge I'm going to experienced last year was a good example of "be a tourist in your own back yard". They operated all season and the vast majority of their visitors were Alaskans. Cruises are starting up again-with restrictions such as you must be vaccinated. I believe it's the Governor who has closed the borders to ships but that may also change.

A news item last week was stating that there’s a new outbreak in the most highly (per capita) vaccinated nation in the world.

Just more than 37% of those cases are people that are fully (2 shots plus time for it to do it’s thing) vaccinated.

Common-sense restrictions are not unnecessary.