Bumper season: Thousands of reasons to smile in Milford
Milford Sound is on track for another record-breaking year with tourists pouring into Fiordland as tourism operators report a bumper season.
Milford Sound Development Authority operations manager Andrew Welsh said the season was well on track to top last season’s visitor numbers, which were more than 530,000.
‘‘We’ve had 16 straight days of fine weather so Milford has been the destination of choice to go to.’’
There had been pressure on car parks with many tourists travelling independently, Welsh said.
The authority had already started planning ahead for next summer with the Southland District Council to look at the Milford Rd and transport options, he said.
Southern Discoveries general manager John Robson said Milford and the whole New Zealand tourism industry had an excellent season.
Southern Discoveries operates several cruise vessels in Milford Sound and at Queenstown.
During peak time in the middle of the day at Milford Sound, some tourists had to be turned away from boats and put on to afternoon cruises instead, he said.
Robson has worked for Southern Discoveries for 20 years and lived in Te Anau for 8 years.
For a small provincial town Te Anau was doing said.
The limiting factor going forward was not the Milford Sound infrastructure or tourism operators’ capacities, but the amount of accommodation available in Queenstown and Auckland.
Large tour groups from China and Japan struggled to book rooms
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Robson during the busier times of the season and would have to cancel trips altogether.
The region needed more accommodation for tourists, he said.
There had not been any new hotels built in the past years because they would have needed to be fairly confident to invest following the financial crisis, Robson said.
Real Journeys chief executive Richard Lauder said accommodation providers in Te Anau and areas around Queenstown were benefiting from the overflow from Queenstown, Lauder said.
‘‘People are finding they have to stay in unexpected locations.’’
There had been significant growth in people advertising their homes as private accommodation through lodging website Airbnb, Lauder said.
That was providing for increase in demand, he said.
Lauder knew many of his staff leased their homes out when they went on holiday, he said.
Milford Sound had experienced 10 to 15 per cent growth in visitor numbers since last year. DOC Te
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