DoC looking at raising
Staggering prices as part of funding review unlikely to deter visitors, says department
The Department of Conservation is investigating charging overseas visitors higher fees for huts and campsites on its Great Walks on top of a hike in charges for all users later this month.
The increases announced yesterday are DoC’s first increases in five years and come as the Herald this week highlights pressure on them and rising costs of maintenance.
On the popular Milford Track — where up to 67 per cent of visitors are from overseas — hut fees will rise from $54 to $70.
DoC’s director of recreation, tourism and heritage, Gavin Walker, said the fee increase was part of a funding review that could in future include charging overseas visitors more.
“That’s absolutely still on the table for consideration but we’re unable to deploy that [differential booking] process at the moment.
“What we’re proposing is an interim measure as a modest pragmatic response to the increasing use of Great Walks.”
The department had this week sent out a request for information from companies who could set up a differential charging system and would want to work with an operator who had run one before.
Walker said DoC would be careful about what premium overseas visitors would pay.
“It’s always something to be aware of — I don’t think anyone else likes going to other parts of the world and paying a different rate but it is commonplace.”
He said in Chile and Argentina locals nearest national parks paid less than residents in more distant cities. Overseas visitors paid most. The Milford track has the highest increase of 30 per cent (from $54 to $70 per night). An increase in campsite fees of four of the eight tracks that have campsites. Recommended price rises range from 7 per cent to 11 per cent again based on track use. The changes would be in place by May 16.
Under existing law DoC is unable to charge anyone for entering its estate.
The department says the new hut charges announced yesterday are designed to increase revenue from the walks by about $880,000 a year, which will go some way to bridging a funding gap. DoC is confident it will not “significantly” reduce demand or participation.
“New Zealand’s nine Great Walks are our flagship walking experiences. Tracks like the Milford, Routeburn and Kepler are internationally famous and globally rank as some of the great ‘must do’ outdoor experiences,” said Walker.
“Increasingly more and more visitors to the Great Walks are interna-