It is an unfortunate comment that, among
all of my many blog articles, the one that gets the most hits both overall and
on a continuing basis is my first entry which laments the high costs of user
fees for Ontario Parks. People search
the web wondering why the costs are so high for camping and day use fees in
Ontario Provincial Parks and end up finding my blog. This shows me there is a disconnect between
what people are expecting to pay for a night of camping and the actual fees that are being charged for
using these parks.
I have now taken it upon myself to analyze
the Ontario Provincial Park user fee increases year by year when they are
released since I don’t think anyone else out there does this. Sometime in November, Ontario Parks quietly
rolls out the next year’s fees on their website without any comment s
explaining what the increases are, so I collect the data from past and present
years and analyze the data in a spreadsheet and make some comments to give some
transparency to park users who are concerned about the user fees for Ontario
Parks.
For the analysis regarding the fee
increases between 2013 and 2014… this
year’s increase from 2013 shows a moderate increase in camping fees. Per night, the fees have increased in the neighborhood
of 3%, similar to last year’s increase as well.
This still is three times the inflation rate. The inflation rate in Canada for 2013 was
0.91% according to this.
Fortunately many of the other fees show no
increase – reservation fees, group camping fees, and most of the day use fees
have been frozen from the year before.
The only other thing to note is the fees for cross country skiing see a
substantial increase of 18% up to $13/day for 18+ regular rate users. Senior, youth and group skiing rates have
also gone up 9-11%, not as much as the regular rate user fees. Some roofed accommodations have also been
adjusted upwards, fortunately not the yurts.
Crown camping accessible areas which at
one time had offered a solace from the crowds of the Provincial Parks are
themselves becoming overcrowded recently, as people look for backcountry
alternatives that you don’t have to pay exorbitant fees to use. There’s many spots that are difficult or
impossible to find parking spots at crown land access put ins because so many
people are opting to use crown land instead of using Provincial Parks for their
backcountry trips.
Excel
Spreadsheet with the user fee data and analysis from 2011 to 2014 is located here.
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