'In high demand': Gas prices increasing seasonal camping demand in Flamborough

Soaring gas prices are keeping people closer to home - something that means business is booming at campgrounds in Flamborough.

At Pine Valley Campground on Valens Road, owner Susan Moelker said they - and other campgrounds in the Flamborough area - have been lucky to not be impacted by gas prices and inflation, because most of their campers come from nearby cities.

I know the campgrounds up north are feeling it," she said. People don't want to travel that far.

We're kind of close to the city, so it's not so bad for us. Our seasonal campers, most of them come from the Hamilton-Cambridge area."

Moelker said while campgrounds that rely on more overnight camping sites might be feeling the pinch, the seasonal business is booming at the park. Pine Valley has 300 sites - mostly seasonal trailer sites, plus some sites for overnight, weekend or weekly camping - and she receives emails daily from people interested in parking their trailers at a seasonal site, rather than hauling them.

To that end, Moelker said they are full for seasonal camping, which sees visitors set up their trailer at a site at the park. While the trailer can stay there year-round, the park is only open to visitors from May to October.

That aspect of camping is in high demand," she said. With the gas prices, people don't want to travel - they want to find somewhere they can park and go to every weekend."

That's something that has been seen at parks across Ontario, said Alexandra Anderson, executive director of Camping in Ontario, which represents close to 400 campgrounds across the province.

I think this year it's that people just don't want to pull their trailers," she said. If you're not pulling the trailer, then you can leave that ridiculously oversized pickup at home in the driveway."

Although travel within Ontario hasn't been hugely impacted, out-of-province travel has decreased, said Anderson - something she believes is related to increased gas prices. In fact, she said after two years of running at almost constant 100 per cent capacity some campgrounds are reporting cancellations and openings.

Anderson said Canada's current travel reputation around COVID-19 as well as the press around delays and flight cancellations at Toronto's Pearson International Airport have likely contributed to a decrease in the number of international visitors, adding the Camping in Ontario website is down 20 per cent in American visitors from 2019 numbers.

Although Valens Lake Conservation Area does not offer seasonal camping, Bruce Harschnitz, the Hamilton Conservation Authority's manager of conservation area services, said the HCA is seeing higher overnight camping numbers than in 2021, a record year.

They found us last year because they didn't want to travel too far with COVID and they discovered, Hey, it's a nice place,'" he said. Now they also don't have to spend the money on the gas to go further north."

Valens Lake, which boasts 225 camping sites, is one of two HCA properties to offer camping, alongside Fifty Point Conservation Area. Harschnitz said numbers are also strong at the Fifty Point park, a smaller campground that offers seasonal camping.

While the Valens Lake campground used to be full only on long weekends, it is now getting close to capacity on regular weekends, as well.

In terms of other HCA properties in Flamborough, Harschnitz said visitation is down at Spencer Gorge and Webster's and Tews falls, although day use is still fairly high at Christie Lake and Valens.

The reason, said Harschnitz, is hard to pinpoint. But a lack of COVID-19 restrictions this year is likely a factor, he said.

In 2021, the HCA benefited as people couldn't go to movies, events or play sports.

Virtually the only thing you could do was go to a park," he said. So they did come out - they came out in droves on the weekends."

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: As gas prices remain high, the Review wanted to see how local tourism in Flamborough was being impacted.