Southland visitor numbers expected to soar

Sunday, 8 September 2019

Southland national parks, such as Rakiura, are expected to have an additional 140,000 visitors in the next six years.

Southland's national parks can expect an additional 140,000 visitors in the next six years, according to the Government's new visitor forecast tool.

Tourism minister Kelvin Davis announced the tool last week as part of a programme to boost private investment into New Zealand's tourism attractions.

The tool forecasted the number of international visitors, aged 15 or older, to a national park who stay overnight in Southland would grow from 504,000 in 2019 to 649,000 by 2025.

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Domestic numbers are expected to increase from 175,600 in 2019 to 185,700 by 2025.

Southland is home to two national parks - Fiordland National Park and Rakiura National Park.

Great South tourism and events general manager Bobbi Brown, who had been working on developing the Murihiku Destination Strategy, said her team was not focused on the number of visitors but on increasing revenue from visitors, and increasing the length of stay.

The team had been working on their own version of the New Zealand tourism prospectus, which identified eight projects they wanted to develop in the region for sustainable growth, Brown said.

The strategy had identified pressure points such as facilities being close to capacity. One affected area was Milford Sound but they were already putting measures in place to manage numbers, she said.

Having two national parks and five great walks were assets to Southland that would attract visitors to the region, she said.

Milford Opportunities governance group chairman Dr Keith Turner said he couldn't speak for the whole of Southland or Fiordland but the numbers were consistent with the growth expected in Milford.

Milford Sound had a large global appeal, and 80 per cent of international visitors to New Zealand listed Milford as a place they wanted to visit, even if they did not get there, Turner said.

The tourism growth numbers urged the need for a master plan to manage the increased pressure on facilities in Milford, he said.

There were already places in New Zealand that were struggling to manage growth, he said.

'Its a common story in New Zealand. If we don't manage systems effectively it becomes chaotic.'

Rakiura Māori Land Trust chairman Simon Gomez said accessibility would limit growth at Stewart Island.

The only access to the island was by ferry, aircraft or helicopter which could control visitor numbers, and only a small part of the island was accessible, Gomez said.

Tourism activities that the trust were involved with included partly owning the Rakiura track, and running Kiwi Encounters with Real Journey. Both activities were already running at capacity, he said.

Southland is forecasted to have a total increase of international visitors by 28.7 per cent, from 562,900 to 725,000 annually by 2025.