Kiwis book Great Walks in droves
Bookings on New Zealand’s Great Walks have jumped by more than a third for the upcoming season as Kiwis make the most of the space left by overseas visitors.
Summer reservations for eight of the 10 Great Walks opened last week. Department of Conservation heritage and visitors director Steve Taylor said they had a 36 per cent increase on last season, despite a predictable fall in bookings from overseas. Last summer foreign visitors made up 31 per cent of bookings. This year it was only 8 per cent.
Only 25 per cent capacity remained at the eight available walks and huts on the most popular, the Paparoa Track, were 97 per cent full.
Across all eight Great Walks, 6267 bookings have been made.
The results did not include the Milford and Routeburn tracks, which are undergoing a $13.7 million repair job after more than 820mm of rain fell in Fiordland in February. Those bookings were expected to open in July or August. Their unavailability may have also contributed to an increase in bookings for other tracks, Taylor said.
The surge demonstrated Kiwis’ huge appetite to explore their country, Taylor said.
‘‘While these figures will change over the coming year, it’s incredibly heart-warming to see the sense of community and social responsibility that saw us save lives and shut down the global pandemic in Aotearoa, now being channelled into supporting the country’s recovery.’’
Local communities would benefit from walkers visiting food stores for provisions, eating out and staying in local accommodation.
Hut fees on the available tracks range from $24 per adult on Rakiura to $65 per adult on the Kepler Track. New Zealand children stay for free while international children pay half price.
The department’s revenue for the bookings only increased by 14 per cent to $1.87 million. That was influenced by the lack of international visitors, who paid double the rates of New Zealanders in the trial during the last two seasons, Taylor said. That was suspended this year but would be considered again in the future, he said.
Fees from Great Walks bookings were channelled back into maintaining them.
Bookings for all other bookable DOC accommodation opens on June 25.