Getting visitors to pick up part of the tourism tab makes sense
The news that tourists will soon be paying twice as much as New Zealanders to stay overnight in some of our most popular national parks has sparked an irksome memory.
Several years ago, post-travel and pre-children, I spent two years behind the counter of the Motueka i-SITE. It was a fabulous job, frantically busy for much of the year as we dealt with many dozens of tourists every day, offering them advice about where to stay and play in our region.
The vast majority of our customers were grateful to have on tap a wealth of local knowledge that enabled them to maximise their time in the area.
But then there was this young French guy. He was part of a large group of backpackers – maybe eight in total. They were travelling on a shoestring budget and were quietly frustrated at the cost of things in New Zealand. His compatriots were polite – this guy was a jerk.
‘‘New Zealand,’’ he sneered, when I was halfway through booking their Abel Tasman campsites. ‘‘You have to pay for everything. You have to pay to eat, you have to pay to sleep . . . it’s ridiculous.’’
I was taken aback by his rudeness, especially when I’d just found his group the cheapest options for every single activity that they asked to undertake in the area. Gobsmacked, all I could think to say to him was: ‘‘But we Kiwis have to pay the same.’’
What I wish I’d said to him was this.
New Zealand is a stunningly beautiful country, at almost every turn. If you cannot afford to stay overnight in the national parks, don’t. Walk in for a few kilometres and then walk back out. Go and swim in the tide at one of the many surrounding bays. Drive for 10 minutes in any direction and take in the scenery, for free.
Yes, the national parks are amazing – otherworldly in their beauty in places. Luckily for you, and for all of us, New Zealand’s beauty is not confined to the userpays areas.
Also, New Zealanders actually do not pay the same as foreigners for these huts and campsites – we pay rather a lot more, because our taxes fund the Department of Conservation, which maintains the priceless (but expensive) natural assets that are our national parks. Our natural environment is a vital drawcard for New Zealand’s tourists, but a very small portion of their spending dollars goes towards its preservation.
On a more personal note, I wish I’d told this guy that New Zealanders are generally a pretty welcoming bunch who respond well to those who act with kindness. At some point or another, every single member of the information centre staff had either driven people to their backpackers after hours so that they wouldn’t have to hitchhike in the dark, or had put them up in our spare rooms when there was not a skerrick of accommodation left in the town. The people for whom we went out of our way were not jerks. Don’t be a jerk.
And as a postscript, I’ve been to France, and no-one there was handing out free croissants.
I greeted DOC’s news about its ‘‘differential pricing trial’’ with tempered approval. On the one hand, there is a financial shortfall that needs to be recovered, and it makes sense that New Zealand’s ever-increasing influx of tourists should supplement that, as the 3.5 million visitors undoubtedly add to the strain on those assets.
On the other, when I’ve been charged a ‘‘tourist rate’’ in other countries, I’ve resented it. I’ve often travelled on my own shoestring budget, and so my resentment was born partly from jealousy – I wanted the cheap Eurostar tickets and free Louvre entry, too.
Sometimes these fees have been documented, and sometimes they have been arbitrary (I’m looking at you, China). The former is more palatable, but scrolling through a website that spells out that you are paying twice as much as someone else for the same experience is still a little jarring. It comes with the slight tang that you are being taken advantage of.
Being treated as ‘‘other’’ is a great reminder that your presence is less about the sharing of cultures and more about how far your wallet can stretch. It may be the truth, but it’s an unpleasant one.
If these differential rates had been packaged as a straight fee increase, with a discounted rate available for New Zealand citizens, it might have been better PR. Better still will be for the Government to follow through with its planned $25 tourist levy upon entry, which will feel less pointed. As a traveller, you work that sort of cost into the non-negotiable expenses of your travels, like your airfares and insurance, and then don’t give it a second thought.
‘‘Being treated as ‘other’ is a great reminder that your presence is less about the sharing of cultures and more about how far your wallet can stretch.’’