Canadian Camping App Expands Access to Outdoors

On May 27, 2025, Vancouver welcomed the globe’s diverse tech community to the first Web Summit in North America. Over 15,000 people attended, including 650⁺ investors and 1,100⁺ startup companies. Founders, investors, policymakers, and media from around the world gathered to discuss innovation, startups, and the future of tech.

Participating in the summit was North Vancouver company, Campertunity, a digital application that matches campers with private landowners who have opened their properties to those seeking the great outdoors. Line49 met with CEO & Co-Founder, Guita Yazdani, to learn how her camping company was conceived, what has been the experience of those using the application, and what insights have been gained.

The Supply Versus Demand Dilemma

One summer, Guita Yazdani journeyed to just outside of Whistler, British Columbia, for a large gathering. It was a spectacular setting with a beautiful lake on one side, and a rugged mountain with a waterfall on the other. She was surprised it was a campsite; in fact, they were on private land.

A few weeks later, Yazdani and co-founder, Nora Lozano, went camping in a provincial park where they had booked a small gravel plot back in January. It was a very different experience. The crowded campground had individual sites placed within feet of each other. The bustling bathrooms were nearby. Early the next morning, instead of the tranquility of nature, the two women woke to the sound of vehicles leaving the park and people walking by — a stark contrast to their previous Whistler experience.

We share our homes, our beds on Airbnb, our cars on Lyft… Why not share our back yards?

Guita Yazdani

The news of that summer reported thousands of people wanting to go camping, trying to book a campsite, but there were not enough to meet the demand. “It was like trying to get Taylor Swift tickets,” Yazdani says. She then realized that the solution to the supply crunch was to open private land for campers to book a short-term stay.

The Airbnb of the Outdoors

Yazdani and Lozano first launched their business in 2016. The concept for Campertunity was simple enough: to provide private property owners with an opportunity to offer underutilized land to the public to camp on. In turn, campers can browse the listings, then book the experience that best meets their needs.

Campertunity’s first fully-operational camping season was in 2019. The following year began with a slow start due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as people realized that camping was one of the safest activities possible at that time, interest in Campertunity soared.

With the growth in the number of hosts, users, and traffic, the two founders recruited Joris Suppers as their Chief Technical Officer. He rebuilt the website to significantly improve the user experience. The new site debuted in March, 2023.

Today, travellers can effectively narrow their choices by filtering camping sites according to lodging type, amenities, accessibility, activities, terrain — even by customer rating. Experiences are diverse. Although most listings are for tent camping, they include RV sites, cottages, tree houses, yurts, and domes.

Hosts looking to earn additional income from their land undergo an onboarding process where they provide a description of their property, its address, and some photos. Guidance is provided to those that need instruction in marketing through newsletters with tips & tricks, short videos, and Facebook communities where questions can be asked. As an indication of success, a host’s reputation is displayed on Campertunity by a 5-star rating system.

Creating Community for Health & Wellness

Today’s stresses of urban living are taking an increasing toll on people’s mental health. Nature is a well-known antidote for stress and anxiety.

While some may consider venturing into the outdoors requires the preparations of a National Geographic expedition, a surprising percentage of Yazdani’s clientele select campsites within a few hours of home. Campertunity gives those from novice to advanced outdoors ability, the opportunity for a weekend getaway without using up precious vacation days.

Taking that walk in the mountain, by the rivers — just being around the beauty of our natural outdoors — is curing for us.

Guita Yazdani

When entrepreneurs create a product or service to address a specific need or problem, they may later discover it being used in unexpected ways, or that unforeseen ripple effects emerge. An example of this with Campertunity, is the farmers and ranchers who have signed on as hosts. Profitable small-scale farming can be challenging. Now landowners can offer an agri-tourism experience that brings in additional revenue, while visitors can learn about farm life and enjoy activities unavailable in provincial parks.

For Yazdani, a model example of the camping community she aims to create is a host called Tiny Getaway in Maple Ridge, a municipality 40 kilometres east of Vancouver. They have a small cabin facing a wilderness area at the back of their farm which has fruits, vegetables, chickens, ducks, miniature goats, dogs, and cats. The host will bring you freshly-laid eggs in the morning if you wish. It’s an accessible escape to the countryside that connects city folks with where their food is grown while helping sustain agriculture.

Campertunity was the first company in this space in Canada. They have approximately 200,000 campsites in their inventory across the country. The business has expanded into 20 countries, so far. In the United States, they also have a contract with the federal government for their national park campgrounds. Of the thousands of campers using their application, Yazdani says that 20% of them are repeat users.

www.campertunity.com