Canadian Camping outlook or No Alaska this year

[agesilaus]

RV Travel

Looks grim for the Canadians, and Alaska with no tourists

[AKsilvereagle]

I am already in mode mindset of a second consecutive year of not going to Canada....

After seeing the government of Australia last week announcing their no foreign visitors extension thru Mid 2022 - I think Canada will follow suit extending this month to month non essential border closure the past 15 months will likely continue throughout this year....

If upon short notice by late summer 2021 there is hope that Canada will allow non essential visitors cross their borders, I will secure the camper on one of my trucks and go - however this highly contagious virus is no where means under control.

I finally decided to get vaccinated for many reasons too long to list other than the timing was right and witnessing others that had their vaccinations from 6 months ago are functioning pretty normal with no issues - as I received my second dose just four days ago - lucky me my only side effect from both shots was experiencing a sore arm for 24 hours (the first shot hurt worse)....didn't get any chills, fever, significant fatigue, etc.

As my 5 digit amount of Canadian Dollars still sit in the Canadian bank account collecting cobwebs - I converted $3.00 Canadian Dollars to US Dollars just recently so that the prolong account inactivity status did not freeze the account so that it would remain in it's active status....

So until my permitted time off approaches, looks like I will just do the many projects around the house again this year if I cannot venture in Canada .... I been on practically every connecting road in the Alaska road system with the camper so it's less desirable to me to travel in my camper within Alaska since I live here....My 13 consecutive year visiting streak in Canada was broke in 2020 due to the current events we are all still facing.

[steveh27]

They just announced the border is closed until June 21.

[Crowe]

Some info that might be of interest. Partway down you'll see a note about getting an RV to AK from WA.

https://www.travelalaska.com/GetInspired/Blog/May-2021-Travel-Tips.aspx

[PA12DRVR]

"Numbers of buses running are reduced and seating is limited to 50%."

This is a fairly common paradigm for the federally-controlled facilities and infrastructure up here as well as for the big national operators...reduced operations and capacity limitations. Many of the big operators are not planning to operate this year....while that may change, if you're coming to AK, look into services from "Joe and Morty's Tour Bus, Flightseeing, and Dogsled Rides, all-in-one!" rather than XXXX-line. As posted earlier, the small local outfits appreciate the business, although with the lifting of the state (and many local) mandates, local traffic is starting to impact the capacity of even the small operators.

[Crazy4silvers]

There is an article in today's Fairbanks newspaper that both tour bus and shuttle bus seats in Denali NP are nearly sold out for this summer. If you are flying up this year and Denali is on your list you should act very soon. Numbers of buses running are reduced and seating is limited to 50%.

[thomas201]

PA12DRVR is talking about the cursed Jones Act. A ship must be US registered and crewed, to sail from one US port to another, without stopping in another country. This prevents a cruise ship from sailing from Washington State direct to Alaska, and thus avoiding Canadian Covid restrictions.

It also prevents shipping US liquified natural gas from Texas to Boston. So Boston imports LNG from around the world, including with a waiver from Russia. This is also why stuff is very expensive in Hawaii. I wish we could repeal this POS law. OK, rant off.

[thomas201]

Just give it up. Take what you can have. I rented a truck camper in Alaska for several weeks. We will fly up. Flights are still reasonable, no problem booking what we wanted in Denali. I did this at the end of April. If an outfitter could have slid a spring griz hunt 2 days I would have followed up the camping trip with a hunt. This was due to a South African client having to cancel. A big discount was left on the table, but somebody will get lucky.

I urge you fellow campers to go. Look for discounts and specials, the folks in Alaska seem willing to work with us, and some income will help them greatly. If we do not support our vendors in Alaska, will they be open in 2022?

[wa8yxm]

The outlook has greatly improved since 2/1/2021 but we are not there yet.. IF things go well we might get there by August (Id love to see July) but not holding beath.. Christmas is about the soonest I think .

[dedmiston]

Moved from General RVing.

[agesilaus]

If there is no one there no staff is required and they do no maintenance. Win, win

Only if they lay off the staff, not the practice in the US other than volunteers/temps.

[shum02]

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.

[PA12DRVR]

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).

[Reisender]

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.

[shum02]

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.