Commonwealth_ The Canada Strong Pass, a national pass granting automatic free admission to national parks and a 25 percent savings on campsites from June 20 to Sept. 2, has been a steady best seller this summer. Intended to get Canadians out and active and viewing more of the nation’s natural beauty, the pass has also been offered to non-Canadians, and at times has been a point of contention for park trips.
Canadian visitors to the country reported it’s getting harder to book campgrounds in popular parks since the pass came into effect. Halifax couple Riza and Lorne McVicar attempted to book a visit to New Brunswick’s Fundy National Park last month in July but couldn’t get anything. Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland and Labrador also had fully booked campgrounds in July.
Parks Canada does not publish seasonally comparable visitation statistics but has been reporting above-average visitation for eight consecutive years, and record visitation is anticipated again this year. Preliminary estimates are that the Canada Strong Pass has put more visitors into already full parks and is the cause of overcapacity.
One of the most breathtaking examples is at Prince Edward Island National Park, where it broke a record for a July visit and quasi-legendary late-July congestion. Residents near the park spoke of being overwhelmed and putting fragile ecosystems under stress. Park officials reposted signs during the congestion not to visit the dunes, which provide protection for the beach from storm tides. Tracks and digging damage dune vegetation, eroding the natural barrier and leaving them vulnerable to the fury of storms and erosion.
The issue is anything but unique to Atlantic Canada. Banff National Park, Canada’s most popular national park, is also on track. Traffic volume on the roads within the town of Banff is a whopping six percent higher over the last seven months than it was at this point last year, which has the park on a record pace.
At Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta, traffic on Aug. 3 was so heavy the park had to be closed to vehicles for roughly two and a half hours. It was only the second time in history there was a closure; the other was when admission fees across the country were waived by Parks Canada as a means of celebrating the 150th anniversary of Canada back in 2017.
Parks Canada traffic bypasses and completely booked campsites are an annual event, and reservation levels at the time this article was being penned are comparable to past seasons. Regional reports to date do show, however, that the majority of the parks saw record summer visitation.
For example, campsites at Gros Morne National Park in Canada were reserved a month sooner than they were reserved at this time last year. Quebec’s La Mauricie National Park reported 19 percent more visitors and 10 percent more reservations at its campsites for one week in July this year compared with the same week in 2023.
This increasing demand has placed in the spotlight the need to harmonize use and experience with protection. Mass tourism can be ecologically damaging, particularly on ecologically sensitive landforms such as wetlands, alpine meadows, and dunes. Crowding is also harmful to visitor experience quality by creating congestion, inordinately long lines for facilities, and limited availability of campsites.
Canada Strong Pass is one of the nation’s overall tourist programs in an attempt to increase tourism in Canada as well as in First Nations tourism. While it is apparently doing a great job of creating more visitation, the stress it has put on infrastructure and natural resources has necessitated additional capacity management, especially during the peak summer seasons.
Parks Canada similarly has a twin mandate of protecting natural and cultural heritage and creating parks for public use and visitation. Parks Canada continues to monitor visitation trends and has been appealing to visitors to be prepared, to visit less crowded parks, and to utilize behavior aimed at having delicate ecosystems preserved.
The further along the summer goes, the more evident the long-term impacts of park visits, conservation, and general visitor experience will be when the end-of-season reports are published by Parks Canada. For now, the program remains a controversial aspect of the 2024 Canadian summer vacation season.
