Govt charges visiting Aussies 'taking opportunities' off Kiwi kids on Great Walks

Sunday, 3 June 2018

Overseas expats Paul Margis and Kayleigh Wang had the Abel Tasman track to themselves on Saturday – last, loneliest, loveliest. 

Loneliest, that is, until they bumped into a fly-in/fly-out visit from a delegation of politicians and media, cameras whirring and rhetoric flowing.

The couple, Margis from the UK and Wang from the USA, now live in Wellington. But when they first arrived in New Zealand, it was as overseas tourists. And when their British and American friends and family follow them to see the sights they write home about, they will be hit with double the hut fees faced by Kiwis.

Standing on the beach on Saturday, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced her department would double the hut fees for overseas tourists on the Abel Tasman, Routeburn and Kepler Great Walks and on that most famous track of all, the Milford.

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Tourists on the Milford will now pay $140 a night. They will pay as much to stay in a tramping hut for the night, with no power or hot water, as they would for a full-service motel room outside the park.

From October, overseas children – previously exempt from hut fees like Kiwi kids – will pay as much as their parents and teachers.

Sage hoped the move would give young Kiwis who had previously been missing out a greater chance of experiencing what their own back-country had to offer.

'New Zealand children under 18 can walk these great walks for free,' she said. 'International children will be paying the same as adults because there have been issues with Australian schoolchildren coming in and doing block bookings and then not always turning up, so this was taking that opportunity from others.'

The government hopes its Great Walks funding announcement will open new pathways to NZ's lesser-travelled tracks, like the Whanganui River journey or Lake Waikaremoana. The trial will last seven months including summer – after that, the Government will decide whether to can it, or potentially expand it to all nine Great Walks.

Margis and Wang agreed with the idea of paying a bit extra to contribute to the park infrastructure, though they acknowledged it would be unpopular among tourists. 'There might be a bit of divide in the camp between Kiwis and internationals,' Margis said.  'I can see some people might be a bit miffed.'

Costs for New Zealanders will remain the same at $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. New Zealanders aged under 18 will still be free of charge.

Sage made the announcement on the Abel Tasman Track, to an entourage of journalists.

With over 300,000 visitors to the Park annually, the Abel Tasman National Park is the most-frequented of New Zealand's nine Great Walks. It has enjoyed an increase of 10 per cent over the last three years.

But as Stuff reported last month, Department of Conservation rangers now find themselves cleaning up toilet paper stained with faeces or urine is left strewn across the tracks, as the park becomes ever more crowded.

The new fees are intended to help cover the $3.8 million shortfall in maintaining the Great Walks and their facilities. A campsite now costs overseas visitors $15 per night, but that will rise to $30 under the new price structure. 

'It's saying that NZ is a premier destination – our Great Walks are magnets for overseas visitors and to enjoy them it's having visitors contribute more to the cost of DoC in providing these tracks and these fantastic huts and facilities,' Sage said.

The tourism industry has been opposed to differential pricing that they say makes overseas tourists feel second class, but similar structures are already in place at some tourist destinations, like Waitangi's Treaty Grounds.

But locally, there is support for the pricing trial.

Wilsons Abel Tasman, which offers cruises, kayaking and guided walks around the park, said DOC was right to exploring options to address its funding shortfall.

'As a country, we have to do something,' said chief executive Darryl Wilson. 'I think it's a step in the right direction.'

But he reminded the Government that international visitors already contributed through taxes like GST. 'We have to be mindful of that,' Wilson said. 'International visitors are not freeloaders.'

Sage acknowledged the price rise would not be universally welcomed, but said they were could mean more visitors to some of the lesser-used walks. 

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

Back on the Abel Tasman, American expat Kayleigh Wang warned tourists wouldn't see as much of New Zealand because they would have to watch how much they spend.

'I first came to New Zealand two years ago and what I liked about it was the fact you could do a lot of these walks and there was either a low cost or no cost at all,' she said.

'I don't think it would deter me – but I'd be a lot more selective about what walks I'd do. You wouldn't be able to see as much of NZ because you're picking and choosing where you're going.'