According to a report, Manitoba (Canada) spaced out campsite locations for reservations this year to prevent the system from becoming overloaded. Despite this, many Manitobans were left disappointed.
Cheryl Mowat, a camper for nearly 20 years, expressed her frustrations over the campground reservation system.
“Booking in the last five years has been horrible, but booking in the last three years has been really bad,” Mowat said.
Mowat added that reservations were made within 20 minutes or half max before, but not anymore.
“Now you’re looking at like I said, last year was five (hours), this year was two (hours).”
Last year, she considered booking a few spots at private campgrounds to reduce the stress of using the province-wide system.
The same frustration is shared by Mike Witkowicz, who’s been camping in Manitoba for seven years.
“It’s not something I look forward to every year, it is an activity that I dread,” he said.
The Manitoba government claims that the massive number of users is the reason for the system’s glitches.
Five years ago, people didn’t have as many mobile devices and computers all trying to access at their disposal in their households,” says Elisabeth Ostrop, Recreation and Education Services manager at Manitoba Parks.
By 9:45 a.m Wednesday, Ostrop reported that there was no longer a queue for online bookers, a significant difference from last year when the queue disappeared at 3 p.m.
“We made several technical enhancements and adjustments. People may have noticed once they were in the application, it was very responsive, they could do their searches quickly, and they could add sites to their cart more quickly than they could have last year,” Ostrop said.
A major overhaul of the reservation system is anticipated in 2023, which Ostrop claims isn’t an easy task.
“Reservations are five days, and it’s one part of the application. This is our whole campground inventory management system.
This story originally appeared on Global News.
Have you heard about the exciting upcoming major overhaul of the campground reservation system in Manitoba in 2023? It’s uplifting news for campers like us who have faced challenges with the current system. In the meantime, considering alternative camping options or exploring off-peak times could be advantageous. How do you usually navigate these opportunities?