CALGARY -- Alberta campgrounds are reporting a new look this May Long Weekend.
Many say the amount of recreational campers they’re seeing is way down, and the type of visitors has changed. This year, many are seeing less tents, more RVs and longer stays.
“We started allowing long-term campers and we have long-term rates now that we didn’t have before,” Calgary West Campground’s Heesung Kim told CTV News Calgary. “(Even still,) we don’t expect to it to be anything close to what it was in previous years.”
Calgary West has almost 300 sites.
On Saturday, only two were occupied by tents.
A slow weekend that in other years has filled the campground is the cherry on top of an already tough year.
“We’re talking around 15 per cent of the level of business we would have been expecting right now,” Kim said. “We’re expecting a fairly significant hit in revenues, but we’re in the same boat as just about every business.”
Those camping this weekend experienced a different site than usual.
Rules around washroom use, site spacing and pool use have all changed. Add that to already-in-place social distancing measures, and Kim said she thinks the entire season will be a rough ride if the provincial COVID-19 situation doesn’t drastically improve.
“If it looks like it’s not safe, I think don’t think we’ll get recreational campers.”
Calgary West isn’t alone. Two other private campgrounds CTV News spoke with said they’re seeing traffic, but it’s not tenters. One said he believes “98 per cent” of visitors are in RVs and trailers “so they can stay self-sufficient.”
But as overnight stays seemed less popular, day trips were still a big hit with Calgarians Saturday.
Thousands hit the road heading west, despite pleas from mountain towns to stay away.
