The province says at 7 a.m. Monday morning, 12,825 devices were logged into their campsite booking program, over 10,000 more devices than in 2020.

A spike in the first round of campground bookings saw thousands of people log into the reservation system bright and early Monday morning in anticipation of getting their desired site. For some, this was not the case.

"The number of people trying to make reservations with Manitoba Parks for sites on Monday morning was very high - much higher than when the reservation system opened for bookings for the season a year ago," a spokesperson from the province says.

As many waited hours just to be kicked out of their place in line, the province says on the backend there were technical issues.

"During the online rush for site reservations on Monday morning, a technical issue was encountered but resolved quickly and processing returned to normal."

This first round of reservations for potential campers at provincial parks' cabins, yurts, and group-use areas, and for the Birds Hill Provincial Park campground opening Monday morning. The province says at 7 a.m., over ten thousand devices were logged on.

"In the opening minute, the number of people signing on - many of them with multiple devices and browsers - was 12,825."

Last year there were 2,804 at that time.

Three hours later, 10,668 reservations were made. 2020's total reservations by that time was 5,706, and 6,153 reservations by the end of the day. Last year the province opened bookings in two phases. This year there are three.

Site bookings are set to open further on Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. for Whiteshell Provincial Park and Winnipeg Beach. 

Next week on April 12, all other campsites will be open to book. 

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