You may be surprised at how many NWT residents went camping last year! NWT residents registered 22,753 overnight visits in NWT parks - an increase of 46% from 2019.
Overall, the number of overnight visitors in NWT campgrounds last summer was down from previous years. NWT parks and campgrounds, like everything else in the NWT, were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
ITI’s Tourism and Parks Division compiles and reports key statistics annually to inform and guide its management of NWT parks – including 18 campgrounds.
A summary of the 2020 NWT Parks season is now available here.
Here’s a look at the 2020 Parks Season - by the numbers:
- 22,753 overnight visits were booked by NWT residents (that’s up 46% from 2019);
- Overall there were 23,105 overnight visitors in NWT parks last summer (that’s down 34% from 2019);
- With 14,400 visitors, campgrounds in the North Slave welcomed the most overnight visitors (9% more, in fact, than in 2019!);
- The use of Beaufort Delta parks was down 87% with only 842 overnight visitors registered;
- Fred Henne was the busiest campground in the NWT welcoming the most visitors: 8,370 in 2020
- At 46%, Reid Lake saw the largest percentage increase versus 2019.
Overall, people stayed longer in our campgrounds: from 2.3 days in 2019 to 3.2 days in 2020.
The opening of last year’s camping season was delayed until June 12 but extended to September 30th. A normal season usually runs from May 15- September 15th. ITI’s NWT parks unit is already planning for the 2021 season.