KITCHENER -- A Kitchener campground will be opening ahead of schedule to accommodate snowbirds returning to Canada amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bingemans said in a news release on Monday that many Canadians that spend their winters abroad will return home and find they have nowhere to go.

“We understand the need for our returning seasonal campers to have a place to come home to,” Mark Bingeman, president of Bingemans said in part in a statement.

With most seasonal camping facilities still closed at this time of year, Bingemans Camping Resort is moving the annual May 1st opening date up by about a month.

“We will also be providing non-seasonal campers the opportunity to stay with us beginning Friday April 3rd,” said Bingeman.

“Bingemans is going to open our gates early to help alleviate the pressure that these groups are already experiencing and allow campers who do not have another residence to move back to their site or store their trailer earlier.”

These returning campers are reminded they will still need to quarantine and self-isolate upon their arrival to Canada.