NWT Parks Reservation System Opening: By the Numbers 2018

April 17, 2018

 

Northwest Territories (NWT) Parks draw visitors from around the world each year – in fact, in 2017 we welcomed a record-breaking 35,050 visitors to NWT Parks. The online reservation system for campgrounds opened over two days last week and the 2018 season is looking good. Here’s a breakdown by the numbers:

New Record:

NWT Park bookings during day one of opening (which included all parks except Fred Henne) hit a new record.

  • Day 1 bookings resulted in 710 reservations – bringing in about $101,900.
  • In comparison, in 2017, Day 1 resulted in $87,000 in reservations.
  • This represents an increase of 17% in Day 1 bookings!  

Overall, park bookings over the two opening days (April 11 and 12) resulted in a total of $174,750 in sales – up just over 7% from 2017 bookings.

Most Popular Parks:

  • Fred Henne Territorial Park took the title of most popular park once again, with a total of 655 bookings. Reid Lake Territorial Park came second with 278 bookings, followed by Prelude Lake Territorial Park with 263 bookings, and Fort Providence Territorial Park with 88.

Faster Connections:

  • The updated website boasted a website response time that averaged 3 seconds – down from 45-60 seconds last year, meaning visitors could book their sites quicker and easier.
  • During the parks reservation system opening, we had 1,679 unique visitors to the site and over 2,690 sessions, which means 60% of users returned a second time.
  • We had a total of 33,106 page views.

Where Are Campers Coming From?

  • Canadians were the top customers, bringing in 89% of traffic.
    • 59.4% from the NWT
    • 23.2% from Alberta
    • 8.6% from Ontario
    • 3.4% from BC
  • Visitors from the United States made up the second largest customer base, making up a total of 8% of online bookings. (Top US locations for bookings in descending order were: Michigan, California, Arizona and Virginia).
  • All other countries were less than 1%, the highest being Germany at 0.6%

Mobile-Friendly Launch

The refreshed NWTParks.ca website, which launched as park bookings began, included a new mobile-friendly feature that users were quick to take advantage of.

  • 60.5% of visitors to the website used desktop, while mobile phones scored 31.3% and tablets/iPad hit 8.2%

Do you have feedback on the refreshed NWTParks.ca website? We want to hear it! Send any comments or feedback to parks@gov.nt.ca

 

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