Tourist operators get DOC charges waived

Department of Conservation concession fees will be waived for 16 months as part of a $25 million tourism support package.

Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said the support would cover most DOC tourism-related concession fees from March 1, 2020, until June 30, 2021.

The package does not cover community services fees such as council rates and pay for waste and water services in national parks.

It comes after sustained pressure from tourism operators, who said the continued collection of the fees was hypocritical and unkind while the country’s borders are closed during Covid-19 restrictions and visitor numbers slashed.

Businesses operating in Aoraki/Mt Cook will experience some relief, but will not have community service charges waived.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the community service charges were like rates. ‘‘We’re just trying to make sure we draw the line at a place that is fair.’’

Charlie and Mary Hobbs, who own the Old Mountaineers Cafe in Aoraki/Mt Cook village and run guiding trips in the national park, said they were grateful for the help they did get. ‘‘In a perfect world it would have been great [to have community services charges waived] but this is helpful,’’ Mary Hobbs said.

It was an incredibly hard time for adventure operators. ‘‘I know many of them are battling to stay afloat, so it comes with perfect timing. With your customer base cut by 90 or 100 per cent it is very hard to work around that, so with the waiving of fees extended to June 2021 that is helpful because hopefully the borders will be open again by that time.’’

Milford Sound Tourism Board chairman Roger Wilson said his organisation had been lobbying for the relief as a way to encourage domestic tourism.

In the financial year to March 2019, Milford Sound Tourism paid $4 million – the largest concession of any business in New Zealand.

Each adult who visited Milford Sound paid about $5 in DOC concessions, he said. ‘‘For mum and dad, this takes $10 off the cost . . . It certainly does help.’’

He was hopeful the company would receive more from the $400m strategic tourism fund, where this cash boots comes from.

‘‘We won’t survive without that.’’ Sage said the decision affected about 1000 tourism concession holders.

‘‘This decision comes after ongoing discussions with operators and industry leaders on how we can best support them through all the levers we have available,’’ she said.

The Government would invest $25m into the department to ensure the conservation work the fees normally contributed to wouldn’t be affected, Sage said.

It is also rolling out a $1.3 billion nature-based jobs package to support thousands of affected people, such as tourism guides.