British Columbia Parks Fee Hike

British Columbia Parks announced increase in camping fees from $1 to $6 per night, depending on the campground. But apparently fees for the most attractive spots on Vancouver Island rose as much as $30 per night. However, most of  the BC’s 340 campgrounds still offer campsites for $16 per night or less.

The hike, which was effective April 1, 2010, is supposed to finance better services, such as: site-specific reservations and increase in reservable parks form 68 to 72 this year.

Critics say that it will negatively affect the number of tourists and will deter some lower-income families from camping altogether. Fortunately this fear does not seem to materialize, since the number of  reservations jumped up 30% just in the first five days of new system’s operations, as compared to last year. That is quite a significant increase.