The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Andrea Barbour, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation:

Speaker, I am very pleased to rise today to speak about the excellent season that ParksNL is set to have this year.

Newfoundland and Labrador is home to 32 provincial parks throughout the province, including 13 camping parks, seven day‑use parks, 10 park reserves, one waterway park, and the T’Railway Provincial Park.

Last year, parks across our province generated the most revenue to date, bringing in more than $1.6 million. They also exceeded all visitation records with more than 240,000 visitors.

Speaker, in addition to this, last year our parks had an outstanding 70,000 overnight stays.

Last week, ParksNL opened reservations for the 2026 season, and broke its reservation record on launch day.

On the first day alone, ParksNL received more than 6,000 reservations, with bookings continuing to come in. This represents a 19 per cent increase over launch day in 2025.

Provincial parks represent the best of our beautiful natural environment and support mental health, cognitive health, and physical health for all users.

Speaker, I look forward to the outstanding season ahead.