Department of Parks
Kentucky Parks Choose Vendor for Campground Reservation System

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Responding to guest demand, Kentucky State Parks will begin accepting reservations for its camping spaces online beginning in 2006, according to Parks Commissioner George Ward.

“One of our top priorities in the Department of Parks is to improve customer service,” Ward said. “We’ve had more calls and emails about not accepting campground reservations than perhaps any other issue. It is clear that to meet the needs of the camping public, our state park system needs to take advanced reservations.”

In the past, all of the spaces at the campgrounds throughout Kentucky’s parks were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

“Both approaches have their merits, but there’s no question we’ve lost out on visitors – both from within state and particularly outside the state – by not being able to guarantee them a camping spot,” Ward said. “With the certainty of a spot waiting, we’ve removed all the obstacles to them coming.”

ReserveAmerica.com, the industry leader in this area, has been selected to administer the program. Their reservation system allows campers to search all of the spots available at Kentucky’s state parks by features such as proximity to woods, water, and electrical hookups.

ReserveAmerica is North America’s leading camping reservation and campground management solutions provider. ReserveAmerica specializes in complete reservations solutions, stand-alone call center/database management tools, online reservations solutions and park software solutions. The company manages the largest reservable campsite inventory with partnerships throughout North America. ReserveAmerica is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI)

Specific details of the program are still being developed.

The Kentucky State Park System is composed of 52 state parks plus an interstate park shared with Virginia. The Department of Parks, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet, operates 17 resort parks with lodges -- more than any other state. Each year, Kentucky parks draw 7 million visitors and contribute $317 million to the economy. For more information on Kentucky parks, visit our Web site at http://www.parks.ky.gov