In This Issue:

• Association News Bytes August 2024
• Review Your Policy in the Event of Wildfire Activity
• Is Your Listing Page Up-to-Date?
• 2023 BC Parks Visitor Satisfaction Survey Reveals the Importance of Facility/Services to Consumers
• BCLCA Summer Reservations Poll Results

ASSOCIATION NEWS BYTES AUGUST 2024

Check out BCLCA's schedule of events and activities. Stay up-to-date with industry happenings and participate in the webinars and forums.

Advocacy



MP Lianne Rood has introduced a Private Members Bill C-410 "An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (campgrounds)" in the House of Commons, and it received approval to move to second reading! Lianne stated, “The qualification of campgrounds as active small businesses within the Income Tax Act is a vital component to their success and longevity.” 

As we continue to drive forward with our efforts to support Bill C-410, your active participation remains essential. This Private Members' Bill, pivotal for amending the Income Tax Act to recognize campgrounds as active businesses, is a cornerstone of our strategy to foster a fair tax environment conducive to the growth of our industry.

Immediate Action You Can Take: Please click the button below to download the Canadian Camping and RV Association advocacy toolkit and begin engaging with your MPs today. Your involvement is key to our success, and together, we can achieve a significant victory for our industry.



Advocacy Message: Small Business Qualification - Canadian Camping and RV Association (ccrva.ca)



Education Services

Save the date BCLCA Ideas Forum November 4 – 6, 2024 – Manning Park Resort - https://bclca.com/annual-lodging-camping-ideas-forum/. Registration opens in August but the working agenda and details have been posted with more to come.

Announcements

Membership renewal dues invoices for 2024/25 have or are being sent via email and are payable September 1, 2024.

Supplier News & Special Offers

Furever Clean offers a selection of high-quality, affordable pet tubs in durable polyethylene or premium stainless steel, featuring user-friendly options like steps, ramps, and electric lifts to accommodate pets of all sizes. They also carry pet room accessories and pet treat vending machines. Special Offer for BCLCA Members until Aug 31st: Purchase a ramp or electric lifting polyethylene pet tub and get $200 off your order. Purchase a package that includes a tub, faucet kit, and backsplash and receive a further $125 discount! Contact us today at www.fureverclean.ca or Phone: 250-217-9433.

REVIEW YOUR POLICY IN THE EVENT OF WILDFIRE ACTIVITY

Wildfires that force evacuations lead to the need to cancel reservations and have a known knock-down effect for campgrounds nearby or enroute.

If we look back to last year the provincial government implemented emergency accommodation travel restrictions on August 18, 2023, due to the severe wildfires in the Okanagan region. Many campground operators far away from the evacuation and alert areas were caught off guard and proactively cancelled all reservations for the full two weeks and emptied their parks expecting an influx of evacuees and emergency personnel, while others chose to let people stay, leave if they wanted to with a refund and only cancelled reservations up to 3 to 5 days out from the start of the order to take a wait and see approach. These operators let the consumer decide if they wanted to cancel and when the situation calmed, they still had business on the books. The travel advisory was rescinded on August 24 for most areas of the Okanagan days ahead of the original two-week order.

Another current example is the Jasper National Park closure with the cancelling of all camping reservations from July 23 to August 6 due to ongoing wildfire evacuations in the area. Unfortunately, Parks Canada has since announced the full closure of Jasper National Park in response to ongoing wildfire activity. This has led to all camping reservations, applied to Parks Canada campgrounds and accommodations, with a checkout date on or before Tuesday, September 3, being canceled.

The point of these two examples is to be prepared with how you will handle cancellations due to emergencies. To address this BCLCA had the legal firm Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP prepare a bulletin in 2022 on cancellation policies.

The purpose of this bulletin is to provide general information to members on the law on cancellation policies in British Columbia and provide guidelines on best practices for their implementation.

The bulletin concludes that a strong cancellation policy and proper implementation of such a policy will provide members with a stronger position when dealing with cancellation requests. A failure to develop or implement strong policies may result in guests obtaining a legal right to cancel the agreement and receive a refund, or may result in disagreements, legal disputes, and dissatisfied guests.

Download the bulletin HERE

IS YOUR LISTING PAGE UP-TO-DATE?

Check that your https://www.travel-british-columbia.com listing page is correct.

Things to make sure are updated:

1. Contact Information - email address, phone number, address, number of sites, open dates etc.
2. Photos - Send us your best photos that show off your business! Minimum pixel size is 1,500 x 1,500. You can have up to 10 photos.
3. Description - Have you read through and made sure all the most desirable parts of your park are noted? Want to make sure a location or amenity is listed? Send us an update.
4. Website and Booking Links - do we have your website address and booking link correct and linked? Help us get interested campers to your website!
5. Is all the information accurate under the General Information, Campsites, and Campground information?

We want to make sure your listing page is not only accurate, but showing off your property as it should! Please send any updates you may have to anne@bclca.com.

2023 BC PARKS VISITOR SATISFACTION SURVEY REVEALS THE IMPORTANCE OF FACILITY/SERVICES TO CONSUMERS



BC Parks released its 2023 visitor satisfaction survey and here is a look at a couple of the reported outcomes.



The visitor survey was completed by 13,535 visitors and they were asked how important certain facilities and services are to them. Answers to this question allow BC Parks to potentially identify services for future investment.

For visitors to BC Parks, the three facilities or services deemed most important for future investments are:

• Flush toilets/showers
• Universally accessible boardwalk/trails
• Interpretive programs

The three facilities/services identified as having the lowest amount of support include:

• Food trucks
• Cafés/restaurants
• Cabin/yurt rentals

Editor’s note: Some key takeaways for the private sector are the low response to the need for full-service RV campsites at 9.6% important and 22% somewhat important. Also, the demand for EV charging stations at 11.2% is important and 28.2% is somewhat important is lower than expected given the government’s push to move to 100% EV’s by 2030.

The visitor satisfaction survey also asked what type of camping shelters are used by overnight visitors.

Editor’s Note: The survey shows a larger number of people using trailers, RVs and camper vans which might be the result of the surge towards RVing vacations due to Covid.

To access the 2023 BC Parks Visitor Satisfaction Survey go to 2023 BC Parks Visitor Satisfaction Survey - Provincial Summary Report (gov.bc.ca)



The BC parks 2024 survey engagement is open until September 2024 BC Parks Visitor Satisfaction Survey - govTogetherBC

BCLCA SUMMER RESERVATIONS POLL RESULTS

The poll asked members to tell us how they were doing, and 32 members completed the survey. Here is a summary of the results collected to July 30.

Question: Is your projected reservation business (i.e. bookings) for the months of July, August and September up, down, or the same compared to the same period in 2023?

• Up 7 properties or 21%
• Down 15 properties or 46%
• Same 10 properties or 31%

Comments: Unedited responses to the open question… please explain what is affecting your bookings and the percentage change.

• I think we have gained popularity overall and have many repeat customers as well as new.
• Green Point Campground is booked throughout the season. West Coast Trail and Broken Group Islands are backcountry options and have more or less the same reservation bookings every year.
• We saw a dip for the months leading up to July which we think is due to the poor weather and increased costs of everything. However, July, August and September are about the same as last year.
• Seeing more international travellers. We adjusted our minimum night stay and allowing drive in reservations again. We are up 32% so far from 2023. See how we continue now that wildfires are increasing.
• The occupancy is lower than the last year. We even lower our rates than the last year as well.... Weather? Post Covid symptoms?? Not the best economy going on??
• Good Weather and no close fires. (The latter may change with the recent heat wave.)
• In general, less visitors, assuming people watching there spendings given the cost of living, interest rates, mortgages etc. For Nelson also a lack of indoor activity if we have either rainy days or smoky days.
• Twenty percentage more than last year thanks.
•  We are busier, but it will depend on how/if we are affected by smoke and wildfires.
• Unsure of cause, speculating the cost of living and inflation. Approximately 15% down.
• I feel that the speculation of wildfire activity has created a "wait and see" approach with a reluctancy to pre book accommodations and travelling more sporadically. This gives markets more time to factor in the recreational dollars they have and again hold back from booking.
• The past 2 years we have had a large contractor booking (50 sites) plus a number of long-term private bookings due to a TC construction project in the area. This year the contractor booking decreased to 10 sites and very few private bookings on the project as it winds down, being the largest contributor to decreased occupancy rate. Regular transient business continues to be strong with strong sales.
• Cabins are fully booked same as previous years. Campground has had a lot more last-minute cancellations. Surgeries, deaths in family or sickness. That said we have had most of those bookings filled by drop in customers.
• The weather and lake level. Not really sure why it is down.
• Occupancy is showing as slightly down this year from last year but generally it will increase as the summer progresses.
• More cancellations - citing medical as #1 reason.
• July is about the same (it's our busiest month, almost 100% occupied with 3-night stay min) Aug is up but still stays to book (but fires last year affected sales. If Aug is hot & smoky, it won't book any more than we have already. Sep has yet to be fully booked so unknown, weather affects booking rate (fires affected last year as well).
• We have seen an increase. 4% July increase and 9%, August increase and decrease of 8% September as per pace reports. Outside of summer months we are starting to see bookings come in closer to date. Unsure of reason...currently looking for ways to determine this!
• Our length of stay is down but occupancy is same as last year.
• Rebuilding the brand as new ownership and good summer weather, upgrades and lots of TLC. Also, tried HipCamp and it has brought in 30-35 bookings for us.
• July and August We are about the same, but cabins are up, and campground is down Cabins are 90% booked and campground about 25% booked Sept is about the same as last year.
• Lots of cancellations compared to 2023, but filling up with drive ins.
• Not sure just maybe the COVID correction.
• No forest fires are making tourists choose the interior vs. being forced to visit the island this year. So far July & August are ahead of last year, but September looks to be much slower.
• No major change either way. June was slow due to weather. July, August, and September look to be on par with last year.
• Not sure what is affecting the slow down.
• The economy is very much affecting our bookings this year. People have shortened their stays this year or cancelled all together. BC Ferry prices, fuel cost. People have told us that they are staying closer to home this year. Occupancy Report for 2023: July 89%, August 94.7%, September 84.6% Occupancy Report for 2024: July 71.3%, August 79.7%, September 51% Now in 2024 we do expect these numbers to increase a bit as we get more into the season, but we are still way down.
• Weather, lack of awareness of our location and some perceived negative perception of previous management.
• Less families, people don't book that far in advance, gas prizes, economy (can't afford to pay for high mortgages and pay down their trailers); people getting sick & deal with health issues; guest cars breaking down, can't make it have to wait for parts to come in; trailer were stored during winter and had mice in them; got called back to work; have to shorten stay because of older kids participating in other sports,...
• June was down ~20% and looking like at least that for July and August.
• The only thing I can think of is a lot of people can't afford to camp, and the ones who can are using the provincial parks instead of private campgrounds.