Are camping reservation fees a ripoff? Campers are no longer allowed to reserve campsites directly at the campground beforehand. If they want a reservation, they must do so at the Camping NWT website for $5 a night for a maximum of $15 per visit. That means if outdoor enthusiasts were to camp every long weekend this summer, they can expect to pay $75 in reservation fees before the season is through, not including the $15-a-day camping permit. Is this system fair? A response from Cold Mountain Computing The following letter is in response to the request for editorials in Friday’s Yellowknife. As the operators of the reservation system for the last four years, we would like to provide some facts to correct some of the rumours that have been circulating. In the “good old days” nobody could reserve a campsite. The parks were strictly first come first serve. On busy weekends, people would drive out to the park on Wednesday and pay $40 for two extra nights just to make sure that they could get a spot for Friday night. People drove from all over the continent to come here for vacations, only to arrive and find there was no room for them. If campers wanted to book a longer stay or had any special needs like a long site for their motor home or a site near the playground, the park operators would try to accommodate them, but often they were just out of luck. With many of the parks nearing capacity for much of the summer, the problem was getting worse and worse and a solution was needed. The GNWT had a reservation system built because the people asked for it. The reservation system is an opportunity, not a requirement, and certainly not a burden. People who do not want to use the reservation system can still drive up to the park and get a permit for the same price they used to pay. The reservation system simply provides an additional option. The park operators still get all of the permit fees that they got before, including the permit fees collected through reservations. They even get a bonus because the reservation system operator pays the credit card fees for the permit fees collected online, which the park operator used to pay. As having reservations makes staying at a park an easier and more appealing vacation option, even more people are coming to the parks, and staying for longer periods. Not only do we as the website operator cover all of the operating costs including the user help desk, processing fees and technical support, we also covered more than half of the development costs. As part of this contract, we also operate the park permit system used by the North Slave parks and provide technical support for the operators, and we provide reports for the GNWT to use for managing the parks and for promoting tourism. The reservation system fee covers most of the cost of this service as well. The GNWT contributed a small amount towards the initial roll out costs, but even this amount is planned to be phased out by next year. It is important that the operation of the reservation system is funded by the booking fees, not by the taxpayers. Since the system is mostly used by people in Yellowknife, it would not be fair to have NWT residents from the smaller, more remote communities subsidize these people’s vacations. By having a fee per reservation, people pay in proportion to how much they use the system. People who camp every weekend and are willing to pay to guarantee they get the site they want cover more of the cost than people who camp less. People who prefer to go straight to the gate don’t pay at all. We certainly understand that everybody would like to have more things be free, but there are costs associated with running a system of this nature. As the number of bookings has increased, we lowered the cost of a reservation as of May 15, so the fees now range from only $5 for one night to $15 for up to two weeks. This is a very small part of the cost of a family vacation, even if that vacation is just a weekend camping. We have received a lot of positive feedback from people who appreciate the opportunity to reserve sites. People who have traveled widely have written that this is one of the best systems they have ever used. Ignoring client concerns By now we have become all too familiar with the dictatorial processes being employed by ITI as they relate to the local camper's ability to enjoy our great outdoors. Starting with the ill conceived notion to increase the capacity of local parks by ramping up nightly and seasonal camping fees while decreasing the length of time offered to seasonal site holders, moving on to the mandatory use of an on line reservation system that limits bookings to 14 days at a time while levying copious, senseless fees for each booking and ending (we can only hope) with the prospect of an unoccupied seasonal site at Reid Lake. Minister McLeod relented on increased fees and declared status quo for 2008. However, it seems he did not provide ITI with the meaning as defined by any source you would care to check....so here it is...... "the existing condition". The existing condition allowed for booking at the park gate for those who did not wish to incur the additional expense of the online "service" and also accommodated those with no access to the internet or for that matter a major credit card. The existing condition for the seasonal site lottery had ITI drawing a number of additional names to form a waiting list in the event that a winner was unable to use their site. This process was not followed at the 2008 Campsite Lottery, subsequently ITI's solution to the prime seasonal site at Reid Lake, that they have now been advised will go unused for the season, appears to allow the site to sit unoccupied as they were not sufficiently forward thinking to plan for this contingency. Will the examples of ITI's lack of planning and public consultation never cease? On May 21, by way of a challenge to the mandatory use of the online reservation system, I forwarded an appeal to Minister Mcleod under Territorial Parks Regulations Part II Section 21. I requested his review of my contention that by virtue of the Regional Superintendent of the North Slave Region's refusal to allow my long-term site reservation at the gate at Reid Lake and his further insistance that I reserve online at an additional cost to my family of $120 (prior to the modest decrease in online booking fees) I had been refused a permit to camp. To date there has been no response from the Minister's office. Does the Minister and ITI think that by ignoring the issues, the issues will go away? Ignoring "client" concerns may be acceptable by this government, I can assure you it is certainly not an acceptable practice in private industry! Premier Roland's strategic initiatives from the 2008-09 Budget - Investing in the Future - would have us believe a significant part of our present government's 'go forward' plan is building our future by way of focusing on children and supporting families/seniors through encouraging healthy choices. The Budget further promises to take action to address the high costs that stand in the way of achieving a better quality of life. How do ITI's ongoing, arbitrary changes to the "rules"( many of which have effectively priced seniors and low income families out of the camping market) support the Premier's stated initiatives or the Minister's promise of status quo? As NWT residents we spend seemingly endless winter nights planning to enjoy the far too few summer days....................... ITI......PLEASE........... let local campers who contribute to the economy 24/7 enjoy summer without further undue government intervention. ITI completely disconnected from the real world Are camping reservation fees a ripoff? Have ITI lost their tiny little minds? Do they believe that out of territory campers in huge gas guzzling motor homes or cars pulling non-aerodynamic trailers are lining up at the river crossing in herds waiting to come hundreds of miles to camp at our campgrounds? Have they, while running around spending their over sized pay cheques, noticed the price of gasoline? It has been pointed out that our government employees are some of the highest paid people in the country, but do they believe that campers (people who could be spending their hard earned dollars on any number of other summer activities) will choose to pay these exorbitantly high gas prices? Do they believe that these campers will drive for endless hours up our one and only road spewing destructive green house gases? Anyone with access to the Internet and a few minutes of time can verify that the dealers of trailers and motor homes in Alberta are almost cutting their own throats to unload their inventory before the almost nonexistent market for sales of these products disappears altogether. If this is not their belief then perhaps they are trying to destroy our tourism industry altogether. I for one have had to rethink the idea of camping at our out of town camp sites as I do not work for the government and can no longer afford to fill the gas tank for anything but essential travel. I will be getting enough fresh air and exercise walking to and from work. If these out of territory campers do not venture here this season or in the future, then the citizens of Yellowknife may become the only people for ITI to prey upon. Perhaps next they could raise camp ground fees to perhaps $75.00 per night to cover the short fall in revenue. Perhaps they could raise taxes in order to keep our parks open or close the under-producing ones. As the hoards of summertime construction workers, that at one time occupied our camp sites, are also no longer here the demand for camp sites will most certainly decrease. As environmentalists continue the unrelenting crusade to lower Canada's levels of greenhouse gas emissions, driving extreme long distances for a few days vacation will no longer be the thing to do. By continuing to alienate local campers we will inevitably find other activities to spend our time and money on; perhaps fly to Edmonton on one of the last-minute cheap flights faxed to my office on an ever increasing basis. While I am there I could have a few interviews with the excessively large number of job offers that are also faxed to my office on a daily basis. Maybe even go camping while I am there purchasing my affordable glasses and stocking up on all of the goods I have been denying my family as we cannot afford them here. A response TO Cold Mountain Computing First off, he says a load of crap about the "good old days", In those days anybody could reserve a campsite,we had communication with the rest of the world by simply telephoning Fred Henne and they would relay messages by radio. Telephone messages could be sent via the radio directly. Secondly, I am also sure that nobody ever paid an extra penny (let alone $40) for two extra nights,and special needs were automatically taken care of; after all we could talk to the person directly.  These people who asked for a reservation system,who are they??? They are missing when one asks around. Every park can handle their own reservations, after all they have E-Mail, telephone, radio etc. We are not worried about the credit card fees which we will not get,  we never got any before. The parks are quite capable of dealing in cash and cheques so there is no reason why campers should have to pay an extra 25% on their cost to reserve a site,  the park contractors can do that for nothing. All that is needed is a Camping N.W.T web page with the E-Mail address of the parks, with maybe a map of them included. As for the long distance tourists...anyone living thousands of Kms from Yellowknife would be making a bad mistake if he booked into (say Long Lake) on a certain day as the routes can add the odd day here and there, for example Nahanni mud or a mechanical problem with the Mackenzie River ferry, etc... Which ever way you look at it camping is going to cost 25% more with not one penny going to the parks or the park operators, THIS IS KNOWN AS A RIP OFF!!!!! Agree? Disagree? Can you add more information to the discussion? E-mail - editorial@nnsl.com. You can sign your own name or make one up. Your email address must be real but it will be keptconfidential.