Hon Eugenie Sage
Minister of Conservation
Minita mō Te Papa Atawhai
16 May 2019 PĀNUI PĀPĀHO
MEDIA STATEMENT
For the first time, Aoraki Mt Cook National Park’s annual visitor numbers have exceeded 1 million, says Conservation
Minister Hon Eugenie Sage.
Released today, summer visitor data, from some of the Department of Conservation’s (DOC’s) top visitor sites, shows
another big season despite an overall slowing in international visitor growth.
“Magnificent places such as Aoraki will always draw New Zealanders and international visitors in large numbers,” says
Eugenie Sage.
“With more people wanting to connect with this Tōpuni site, DOC has worked to make sure facilities are adequate,
visitors have a safe, high-quality experience, and the outstanding natural and cultural values of the national park are
protected.”
Since 2010, DOC has invested over $16.5 million in visitor facilities within the national park including a new visitor
centre, road improvements, tracks, and more toilets. An estimated $122,000 was also spent to repair the popular Hooker
Valley Track after extreme weather damage in March.
Alongside this, DOC continues to increase New Zealand’s conservation effort through targeted biodiversity work and
ambitious collaborative projects including Predator Free 2050 and Te Manahuna Aoraki.
“The New Zealand-Aotearoa Tourism Strategy launched today provides for the Government to take a more active and
coordinated approach to tourism to make sustainability a core value and mitigate the industry’s impacts,” says Eugenie
Sage.
“To protect the nature and maintain high-quality visitor experiences, DOC is focused on planning for future growth;
sharing the stories of our heritage; and doing more effective compliance work.”
Currently, around 3.9 million New Zealanders, roughly 80% of the population, visit public conservation areas (from
national parks to marine reserves) at least once a year, alongside around 1.8 million international visitors.
“It’s not just the number of visitors but the rapid rate of growth in those numbers that has put pressure on some of New
Zealand’s most iconic places,” says Eugenie Sage.
“International visitor arrivals to New Zealand have grown by 43 percent in the last five years. Visits to Otago’s Blue
Pools are estimated to have risen from 3,400 to 102,000 in just three years. Visits to Ben Lomond Track have just about
doubled in that time. This year, while visitor numbers are still on the increase, there has been a general slowing of
international visitor growth.”
In the year ending January 2019 compared with January 2018, overseas visitor arrivals were up 150,000 (4%) to a total of
3.8 million. The estimated growth rate for international visitors to national parks is a little higher at 9%.
This slowing of visitor growth is reflected at several key conservation areas. Milford Sound (840,000 visits) and Franz
Josef (759,000 visits) have both seen 3% growth compared with the previous year and Tongariro Alpine Crossing 1%
(142,500 visits).
Places that bucked this trend of lower visitor growth compared to last year are Rakiura/Stewart Island’s Ulva Island
increasing by 76% (17,000 visits) and Northland’s Tane Mahuta Walk up by 44% (152,000 visits).
“With these increased visitor numbers, a major part of the Government’s proactive approach to managing tourism is to
encourage visitors to enjoy and respect New Zealand,” says Eugenie Sage.
“DOC’s ‘Visit the Kiwi way’ campaign highlighted the need to have as little impact as possible on wild spaces and
natural areas. The campaign reached over 3.4 million cumulative screens and its simple, inclusive approach was
well-received by the public.”
“The soon-to-be implemented International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy will help ensure tourism contributes to
protecting and restoring nature which we all depend on,” says Eugenie Sage
Background
• DOC is focused on restoring New Zealand heritage through collaboration, in particular with iwi, and proactively
managing growing numbers of visitors to the outdoors.
• DOC is committed to ensuring our natural and historic heritage isn’t put at risk by increasing use and people continue
to have rewarding and safe experiences.
• DOC invested an extra $3.6 million in 2018/19 to maintain facilities on public conservation land. This included
cleaning toilets, dealing with toilet waste, track maintenance and compliance.
• In the past three financial years, DOC has invested more than $42.4 million in capital expenditure to improve visitor
assets including roads, toilets, car parks, and campsites.
Further information
Visitor numbers and trends are detailed in the accompanying report ‘DOC visitor sites data to 28 February 2019’
available on DOC’s website: https://www.doc.govt.nz/visitor-sites-data-2018-2019
ends