Editorial: Tourism's rapid growth requires careful stewardship

Walkers in the southern crater of the Tongariro Crossing. Photo / Mike Scott

Editorial

It has been a big week for tourism. The industry's campaign for more funds to cope with pressure imposed by surging numbers of visitors was partly answered with a $60.5 million Budget injection for infrastructure.

Together with $41.5 redirected from existing tourism accounts, the sector has $102 million to invest in assets such as car parks, toilets and new freedom camping facilities.

The industry complained the allocation was insufficient but it should help ease the burden on small towns and isolated attractions struggling to deal with unprecedented visitor arrivals.

The Department of Conservation, which manages parks and scenic drawcards which underpin the vibrant industry, is getting $76 million. The money, released over four years, is for upgrading the existing network of tracks, cutting new ones and sharpening the agency's online presence to make it possible to charge overseas tourists more for accessing New Zealand's striking backcountry.

The Government cautions that foreign visitors should not be seen as cash cows, implying that a grasping approach could destroy the golden age of tourism which in a few years has become New Zealand's biggest export earner.

It is signalling that some adjustment will occur, but the market message is that new charges will not be over the top.

Visitors expect to pay to use huts and tracks and wire bridges installed with funds collected from taxpayers. The industry argues that tourists already contribute heavily through GST, and wants a share of this revenue reinvested in the regions.

The principle of different charges for citizens and overseas visitors is commonplace and there seems no reason why it should not be applied to New Zealand's tourism assets.

When New Zealanders travel overseas they know the fee they will pay to visit monuments or museums will nearly always be more than what locals are charged. The challenge will be devising a system which collects the charge and applies funds where they are needed.

Beyond the business of tourism, the very essence of venturing into remote valleys should not be lost amid the repositioning of the sector as an economic powerhouse.

Not everyone wants to share a ridge track with a conga-line of the curious, which in the most popular places is the result of the rapid arrival of mass tourism, a transformation illuminated over the past 10 days in a searching series published by this newspaper.

The industry is pushing for greater private sector access to the conservation estate, with more opportunities for concession holders. The demand ought to be handled with care, though there will undoubtedly be places within the public estate where development and investment can enhance the visitor experience.

Equally there will be projects unsuitable for some locations, and managing the tensions certain to arise from conservation and investment conflicts will require clear-eyed stewardship.

Last year 3.5 million visitors came to our shores. Within six years, that total is expected to swell to 4.9 million a year, when the annual tide of tourists may exceed the population.

The industry, riding buoyant numbers supported by hefty taxpayer investments and global political events diverting travellers away from Africa, Europe and North America towards safe Australasian havens, has to recognise that a sustainable tourism future rests on input from all parties with a stake in the nation's rich natural heritage.