Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis rounds up mayors to discuss freedom camping problems

Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Over the last decade the number of international visitors doing at least some freedom camping during their stay has risen from about 30,000 to 115,000 annually.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis has invited 22 mayors to a meeting in March to discuss solutions to freedom camping problems.

But he warned there would not be a quick fix to long running complaints about noise, litter, human waste, overcrowding, and blocked access to public spaces.

'The issues are complex and there's no easy fix, so central and local government need to take a collaborative approach and find solutions that will work for everyone.

'For tourism to continue growing in New Zealand and remain successful over the longer term, we need to listen to our communities and get this right.'

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Davis said the meeting would be an opportunity to address some of the issues before next summer.

He was interested in finding out more about how freedom camping was managed across New Zealand, where the pressure points were across the country, 'as well as what is and isn't working under the current regime'.

Davis said he also wanted to take a broader look at the place of freedom camping because, over the last decade, the number of international visitors doing at least some freedom camping during their stay had risen from about 30,000 to 115,000 annually.

This was in addition to the many Kiwis who freedom camped, such as trampers, cyclists, hunters, surfers, seasonal workers and the 70,000 members of the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association.

“New Zealanders value their right to freedom camp and we want international visitors to explore our country – but there has to be respect for our natural environment.

Davis' response is likely to find favour with the tourism industry where freedom camping was a hot button issue with 354 operators surveyed for its recent annual state of the industry report.

Although the growth in freedom camping over the last 10 years represented just 6 per cent of overall visitor growth, the report said there was tension around the value of campers, their impact on the environment, and how they were viewed by other 'high value' visitors.

Just over 80 per cent of the 354 operators surveyed said freedom camping posed a risk to the industry's public reputation.

They also expressed concern about its sustainability, and suggested central government needed to provide greater leadership on the issue because local government's fragmented and inconsistent policies were ineffective.

The report said that, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, on average freedom campers stayed 50 days and spent $4839, or about $96 a day.

Visitors who did not do any camping or backpacking stayed on average 19 days and spent $2959, or $155 per day.

However, report author, WelTec tourism lecturer Jamie Smiler, said it was a mistake to look solely at the raw spend data, because freedom campers tended to interact more with local communities and ventured into regions other tourists did not.

'In small places a little bit of money makes a big difference.'

Smiler said there also needed to be better education of visitors about freedom camping.

'In most cases visitors are happy to obey the rules, but it's confusing for them because there's different regulations in different districts.'