1.7m tourists in a year — and rising

iaaeHalf of all international tourists who came to New Zealand in the past year visited one of our national parks — and in some places numbers have swelled by a third.

The Department of Conservation has welcomed the influx, while noting the growing challenges that rising tourism numbers pose for New Zealand’s world-revered backyard.

New figures showed 1.75 million international tourists, or 52 per cent of all visitors here, travelled to a national park in the year ending March — an increase of 5 per cent.

At Franz Josef Glacier, numbers over the period grew 9 per cent to 750,000, with the glacier valley receiving about 6000 visitors a day during peak season.

Roys Peak, near Wanaka, had a 27 per cent increase, with more than 75,000 people visiting.

“DoC welcomes increasing numbers of people visiting New Zealand’s great outdoors provided we can protect the special nature they come to experience,” DoC director-general Lou Sanson said.

International visitor numbers were predicted to increase by a further million over the next six years, he said.

“This growth in domestic and overseas visitors comes with challenges of capacity, protection of natural and cultural values, and quality of experience in some high-use sites,” Sanson said.

But Forest and Bird chief executive Kevin Hague argued the growth had outpaced New Zealand’s ability to protect the special nature of those places that most attracted tourists.