Parks Canada says Banff park reservation system running smoothly

Parks Canada says its new online reservation system to book camping sites and other activities at national parks appears to have worked well during its first week of operations.

The site was recently updated to fix an older one that was prone to crashes and glitches.

The new system has different reservation dates from mid-March to mid-April at each national park, historic site and marine conservation area, which are listed on the Parks Canada website.

Bookings started in British Columbia, some of the eastern provinces and for Jasper National Park in Alberta last week, while reservations for Ontario sites opened Tuesday.

Camping reservations in Parks Canada's busiest location — Banff National Park, also in Alberta — are set to open this morning, and shuttle reservations to visit the park's popular Moraine Lake and Lake Louise start on Apr. 13.

Parks Canada says it has observed mostly positive comments from users so far and any dissatisfaction appears to be people not being able to get their first choice of campsite or dates at popular sites, which it says is not unusual.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2023.