User fees for national parks, including entry and camping fees, are set to go up about two per cent this year.
Parks Canada is ending a five-year fee freeze put in place during the recession and proposes that new user fees due to come into effect April 1 be in line with the average annual Consumer Price Index (CPI).
If approved, that means an adult entry pass to Banff National Park that now sits at $9.80 will be around $10. Campers will now also have to pay for firewood for the first time, which will be $6.80 a bundle.
Officials with Parks Canada – which has been hard hit by federal budget cuts – say revenue earned goes back into park programs and services, such as improvements to infrastructure.
“We have to pay the same increases on our bills, including energy costs and other inflationary costs as everyone else,” said Andrew Campbell, Parks Canada’s vice-president of external relations and visitor experience.
“We are trying to keep pace with our inflationary costs so we can continue to offer the same sorts of experiences as we do today.”
Parks Canada currently charges over 3,300 different user fees for services across the country, such as entry to parks, camping, fishing permits, fire permits, backcountry camping and for business licences.
The plan is for user fees to increase every two years based on CPI. Typically, the average CPI has been about 2.5 per cent annually.
New fees for commercial tour groups will not come into effect until April 2014 to give companies more time to notify and advertise the changes for clients. It will amount to a 5.2 per cent increase in that first year.
For Banff, new fees include a $250 charge per show for Mountain Wit theatre group to perform at a private function and $75 for a biologist to make a presentation to a convention group.
The Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment (AMPPE) – a business and park user lobby group – is opposed to any hike in fees, arguing Canadians have already strongly opposed any increases.
Officials say Parks Canada needs to find more innovative ways to do business, including investing in private-public partnerships, and cutting costs on administrative and bureaucratic expenses.
“I don’t think increasing fees is the answer to Parks Canada’s revenue woes,” said Monica Andreeff, executive director of Banff-based AMPPE.
“Increased gate fees could have severe negative impacts on sustainable tourism in the national parks and for the businesses in park communities.”
Andreeff said many families, young Canadians and new Canadians from Calgary and the region tend to camp in neighbouring provincial parks, such as Kananaskis Country.
“Parks Canada has heard from the public many times that young people in particular find gate fees on top of camping fees unaffordable for them to come camping in the park, so they tend to camp in provincial parks,” she said.
Wild Rose MP Blake Richards said the proposed fee increases are “quite modest,” but he said he encourages Canadians to voice their opinions on the proposals.
“I was very supportive of the idea of the fee freeze because I recognize the tourism industry needed to remain strong through those tough times and that was something that always had an expiry date,” he said.
“I think this should be manageable. I think it’s still a pretty affordable opportunity for Canadians to visit some pretty beautiful tourism destinations.”
The public consultation period ends Feb. 18. To comment, go to www.parkscanada.gc.ca
With files from Ciaran Thompson
