The provincial government sought to downplay reports of foreign buyers skewing British Columbia’s camp spot market, saying their data proves local citizens aren’t losing access to people who don’t pay taxes here, and that the real problem is a lack of supply.
“The challenge is for everyone who wants to see expanded campsites for recreational purposes, you have another person who says, ‘No, I don’t want you to cut down more trees.'”
Conversation around the topic has escalated to a fever pitch in recent months, with accusations that companies are snatching up units and marketing them to overseas buyers.
READ MORE: Hot demand spurs reservation black market in B.C.
But today, after days of negative headlines, the provincial government said the rhetoric was overheated.
“We don’t find that there’s a significant amount of this going on. We’ve had 11 reports of it this year,” said Polak, referring, of course, to camp spots.
Polak says the vast majority of sites are used by British Columbians – about 75 per cent, with just 6.6 per cent coming from another continent. But because more and more people are turning to the online system to make a reservation, rather than relying on the first-come, first-serve spots, it’s created a camping crunch.
The provincial government believes the ultimate solution to the problem isn’t to punish foreign buyers, but to increase the total amount of spots available to British Columbians.
One thing is for certain: demand continues to rise. The government says demand has increased by 80 per cent in the last five years, but the number of new camp sites has only gone up by five per cent.
“We could today ban all tour operators from booking in camp sites and it wouldn’t make a dent,” said Polak.
The government, however, did acknowledge they were looking at any loopholes in the system that could be closed.
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