Large -scale user cartoons are being considered for popular attractions to help Doc deal with growing pressures to maintain and improve their assets.
Speaking at the University of Otago School of Tourism Policy in Queenstown, Doc Director-General Penny Nelson said tourism-related tourism in New Zealand is about $ 3.4 billion a year.
“Visitor’s satisfaction is high, but we still have a lot to do to protect the experiences that we are promising and ensure that the environment is cared for.
She said the government had established a priority for the department to increase revenue and invest in areas with high conservation value.
” Doc consulted the public about a proposal to introduce accusations for the public to access some high -volume areas, as is the case in many countries abroad.
” In general, feedback was favorable, especially to charge more international visitors. ”
At the moment, Doc only charges people who are in cabins or companies that operate in conservation lands.
Visitors who do short walks – the most popular activity – pay nothing.
Nelson said that next summer he will ride the chaparking charges at Araki/MT Cook, Punakaiki and Franz Josef Glacier to help manage the number of visitors and cover maintenance costs, which many other countries do.
“We have done a lot of work in high volume places such as Tongariro, Araki/MT Cook and Matutohe Cathedral Cove, working with IWI, tourism companies and communities to carefully manage these destinations.
” We are getting results and analyzing how to climb this elsewhere. ”
The doc is the largest supplier of visitor experiences in New Zealand, with over 16,000 beds and hosts 64,000 walkers in the large walks each year.
“Our network of visitors is great – but we can only pay about 70 % of it,” said Nelson.
“This costs us 30% more now to build balance bridges in the back country than four years ago.”
Climate change – more fires, floods and severe storms – were getting the problem worse, she said.
“Our spending on storm repairs has quadrupled in the last five years and 300 of our coastal actives have been in the danger zone of rising sea level.”
Since the beginning of the year, there have been 11 fatalities in conservation lands, five of which were from falls beyond the rails.
“We also saw some terrible and dangerous visitors behavior this summer, with people driving about birds on the beaches and harassing sea lions to take a better photo or video.
“We love to host visitors in conservation lands and connect them to nature. Most visitors come here to our mountains, open landscapes, peculiar wildlife and unique cultural heritage, and if they do not protect them, they will stop coming.”
– APL
