KANANASKIS, Alta – Alberta Parks is cracking down on people trying to resell their camping reservations.
Officials with Alberta Environment and Parks want to remind campers that selling reservations is not allowed and that reservations will be cancelled if anyone tries to resell their campsites.
They ask people to report any ads or posts on various social media platforms by calling the contact centre at 1-877-537-2757.
“For lots of folks reselling tickets or something on Facebook Marketplace is something they do in their everyday lives,” said Nancy MacDonald, interim executive director of visitor experience of the Parks division of Alberta Environment and Parks.
“We want to remind everybody that this doesn’t fit into the same category as those kinds of products and services.”
Camping reservations are non-transferable, and when a camper registers at the campground, only the account holder or authorized user listed on the account is allowed to check-in.
There were about 800,000 booked nights on Alberta’s reservation system last year. According to Alberta Parks, visitation has grown by 169 per cent in reservable camping since 2019.
“We’ve had such a massive increase in camping reservations and that means there’s some new visitors to our system,” said MacDonald.
“We’re just making sure that everyone is aware of what the terms and conditions of their camping permits are.”
MacDonald said Alberta Parks understands that plans change, noting that reservation changes and cancellations can be made online at Reserve.AlbertaParks.ca or by phoning the Contact Centre at 1-877-537-2757
She said people do let Alberta Parks know on occasion if they see reservations being sold on Facebook Marketplace or other social media platforms.
“We contact those people right away and let them know they should take that post down and if they want us to work with them to make a change to their reservations, we’re certainly able to do so,” she said.
“Having fair and equitable access to our provincial parks and protected areas is a really important goal for Alberta parks so we continue to monitor it."
According to Alberta Parks, there are not many examples of campers trying to sell their reservations for profit.
“There’s not a ton of examples of that because we do work hard to make sure everybody is well aware of what the rules are,” said MacDonald. “It’s more individuals who are not able to use their reservations.”
