Tourism industry out of control — time to act

THERE has been a lot of discussion on our tourism industry in recent times. I spend a considerable amount of time in Te Wahipounamu — South West World Heritage area, both on private missions and on conservation work. It is clear that parts of it are being degraded by the sheer number of visitors, mainly from overseas.

For example, last Tuesday we drove through the Haast Pass from Neils Beach and I counted about 70 vehicles parked at the Blue Pools west of Makarora. It’s likely around 200 people were down at the pools. Only a few weeks previous we drove out of the lower Hollyford Valley to find a similar number of vehicles parked at the Lake Marion car park and the Routeburn Divide car park overflowing. Further up the road at the Gertrude Valley car park, it’s bedlam there every day of the week.

We look after trap lines in the

Upper Hollyford, Gertrude and

Bowen Valleys for the protection of our precious avifauna. I’ve had to remove traps near the Gertrude

Valley car park due to the amount of toilet waste in the bush there. Another adverse issue is the destruction of our avifauna. Keas have been killed by traffic on the Milford road. The Monkey Creek and Homer Tunnel car parks are a major hazard for them. There is some evidence of the failure of rock wren nests due to the pressure of tourist numbers in the Gertrude valley.

Milford Sound is a disaster now with outofcontrol tourism. Car parks are full from early morning. I find this particularly annoying when I go there to check traps up the Bowen Valley and cannot find a place to park my car, and I do this for the love of nature at my own expense.

The Government seems to be in a state of paralysis in managing this model of unsustainable tourism. Building more toilets and car parks is not the answer. It’s not the tourists’ fault. It’s our fault for giving them unrealistic expectations (Tourism NZ) and not advising them of our culture in terms of protecting our conservation estate. The carbon footprint of tourism is huge. Noone wants to know about it. It’s time to restrict tourist numbers into New Zealand, sort out the freedom camping debacle, introduce a realistic tourist tax, ban tourists from camping in sensitive areas, stop them freeloading in our mountain huts etc. If nothing is done this will end very badly and we’ll end up with our reputation tarnished.

Stanley Mulvany

Invercargill

[Abridged]

Cemetery

THE Andersons Bay cemetery has by its very nature many areas of barren concrete and stone and the sad crematorium building. There are, fortunately, many areas of colour and comfort, showy bushes and shrubs and attractive borders. These displays are a tribute to the planners and those tending them on a daily basis. The strategically placed seats are a haven for peaceful reflection.

Thank you to all those people who contribute to this amenity.

David Fraser

Mosgiel

Guard rail

B. PLANT (ODT, 8.2.18) rightly calls the Dunedin Town Hall guard rail ‘‘ridiculous’’. Attached to the top of the balustrade in the dress circle, it effectively spoils patrons’ views. The letter writer specifically asked how many people have actually fallen over the balustrade in the town hall’s 86 years? To this I would add two further questions: Who was responsible for this act of PC madness, and what was the cost to the ratepayer?

G. R. MacDonald

St Kilda

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BIBLE READING: Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. — Hebrews 13:1