Foreigners to pay double on four of New Zealand's great walks

Saturday, 2 June 2018

Kiwi trampers will enjoy the Great Walks for the same price, but visitors will be paying double on the four most popular tracks.

Tourists will be charged roughly twice as much to stay in huts on New Zealand's four most popular Great Walks, starting from October.

The increased fees will be trialled to see if they will help the Department of Conservation (DOC) maintain the tracks and manage the number of visitors to the walks.

The Routeburn is one of four tracks where tourists will be charged twice as much to walk than Kiwis.

Overseas visitors, including children, will be charged $140 per night on the Milford track, $130 per night on the Kepler and Routeburn, and $75 per night on the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk.

Costs for New Zealanders will remain the same $70 per night for the Milford, $65 per night for the Kepler and the Routeburn, and $38 per night for the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk. Under 18 year olds will still be free of charge.

Tourists on the Kepler Track will pay double the hut fees Kiwis will in a trial from October.

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced the trial at an event in the Abel Tasman National Park on Saturday.

'New Zealand's nine Great Walks are premier tracks that pass through unique and spectacular scenery and are a magnet for international visitors,' Sage said.

'The seven month trial from October 2018 to April 2019 will provide information on the effectiveness of pricing as a tool to manage visitor pressure.'

Sage said the trial was also meant to maintain a fair pricing system for New Zealanders.

A New Zealander was defined as a person who was either a citizen or ordinarily residents who held a residency visa or lived in the country for at six months out of the last twelve.

Under DOC's booking system, it would be made clear that anyone claiming the lower fares may have to prove their eligibility. This would be enforced by wardens on the tracks over the trial period.

The cost of maintaining the nine Great Walks is up to $3.8 million more than the revenue the DOC gets from user fees for the huts.

Sage said the extra fees weren't expected to significantly reduce bookings, and could bring in an extra $2.9 million over the 7 month trial period. All fees gathered would go to maintaining the walks.

'I think people realise that places like the Milford are premier destinations but we're not charging for these premier experiences - it costs DOC nearly $3.8 million to maintain these tracks than it gets in revenue each year, so there is a big gap there,' she said.

'The increased accommodation fees may also encourage overseas visitors to use less visited Great Walks where prices remain the same.'

Last season, ending at the start of March, 1.75 million people visited a national park, about half of all international tourists.

'International visitors currently make up around 60 per cent of all those walking and using the Great Walks.'

The Great Walks with unchanged prices are Lake Waikaremoana, the Tongariro Northern Circuit, the Whanganui Journey, the Heaphy Track, the Rakiura Track, and the Paparoa Track.

For local iwi, the Minister's announcement meant the land they had overseen since the 1800s would continue to be maintained appropriately, as would the other Great Walks.

'I think it's about understanding the value of this place - there are tourism values but for manawhenua its more than that - this is where our ancestors lived and so it's really about providing a space for iwi to have a presence here and so having people coming in and respecting those values is really important,' said Aneika Young of Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa.

'It's a numbers issue … if you're going to advertise for people to come here, then you've got to have the infrastructure to match it,' said DOC Kaitiaki Barney Thomas.