DOC and city i-Site get together

Future visitors to Invercargill need only to stop by the i-Site at the museum for all the advice they need to venture into the wilderness.

The Department of Conservation and Invercargill i-Site have signed a memorandum of understanding whereby the i-Site will provide information to visitors on behalf of DOC.

Venture Southland’s general manager of tourism, events and community, Bobbi Brown, said the initiative Venture Southland helped organise brought a direct connection between one of Southland’s biggest tourism operators and domestic and international visitors.

DOC Murihiku operations manager Tony Preston said DOC would provide the necessary training to i-Site staff and they would have access to the Great Walks booking system.

Visitors would be able to buy annual passes, hut tickets and make bookings for the Great Walks at the i-Site, Preston said.

‘‘If we can work together, we can leverage off each other.’’

No longer would visitors have make their way to the seventh floor office of the Cue building, the i-Site would be a one-stop shop, he said.

The deal had resulted in a better product for the customer, he said.

Within the next few weeks, signs would be installed at the visitor centre and the profile would be improved in the coming months.

Invercargill did not have a visitor centre but the i-Site could fill that role, he said.

More people would be getting the right information now, he said.

Invercargill i-Site supervisor Julieanna Little said there were 84 i-Sites throughout the country and a few, including Dunedin, had relationships with DOC