Tourism backs higher walk fees

Emerald Lakes on the Tongariro track.

Politicians’ plans to charge overseas visitors more for conservation have been backed by the tourism industry, but groups are divided on the best way to collect.

Prime Minister Bill English said yesterday that National would double international visitors’ charges for huts and campsites on New Zealand’s five most popular Great Walks – Milford, Routeburn, Kepler, Abel Tasman and Tongariro. Fees on other walks would rise 50 per cent for overseas users, and local users would not pay more.

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern said her party also planned to raise more money from overseas tourists for conservation but was ‘‘looking at our options’’ as to the method.

The Green Party would introduce a $20 tourism levy at the border for international tourists, spending the proceeds on conservation and tourism.

More than 117,000 visitors did the nine Great Walks in our national parks in the 2016 financial year – up 12 per cent on the previous year. Sixty per cent were international tourists. Together, the walks lost $3 million, with the biggest loss of $950,000 being on the Heaphy Track.

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said National believed it was fair that international visitors ‘‘pay a little more to enjoy our landscape and contribute to protecting our native wildlife’’.

The fee rise will start in October 2018. The Government will also double the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) community fund to $10m. English yesterday ruled out a border or bed tax.

National’s plan, first revealed by Barry in May before being resurrected on the election trail, would bring in an extra $4m a year for conservation.

Peak-time charges for the huts range from $24 to $70 a night, depending on track popularity, with $15 to $32 charged off-peak. Campsites are cheaper. Access to the walks themselves is free.

Chris Roberts, chief executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa, said the environment was New Zealand’s No 1 attraction and the higher rate was needed to help fund conservation.

‘‘Some might wonder why we support charging visitors more, but we think the quality of our product is worth it,’’ he said. ‘‘The prices are reasonably cheap compared with overseas, and those walks are incredibly popular.’’

Roberts said demand for the walks already exceeded supply, especially at peak times. Raising charges would be a user-pays method of collecting, rather than an untargeted border tax. ‘‘We want to be a high-value destination – we’re not marketing New Zealand as a cheap place to come.’’

Tourism Export Council chairwoman Anna Black said the council preferred the fairness and simplicity of a border tax.

‘‘A tax at the border works overseas. It places a smaller charge on more people, rather than taking a larger amount from a few.

‘‘We are mindful that there are a lot of taxes out there, and we don’t want to turn people off.’’

Improving the environment, including waterways, was vital for the tourism industry, Black said.

Posts on New Zealand tramping websites after the National Party announcement mostly backed the higher charges, but some trampers said there would be ‘‘devil in the detail’’ and wondered how the differential fees would be applied.

One local tramper said higher prices could encourage fee dodging, and rangers would need to do more checks.

Accommodation bookings on popular walks, especially the Milford and Routeburn tracks, typically sell out within minutes. DOC has already been allocated funding to upgrade its online hut booking system to determine users’ locations.

In the 2016 financial year, the percentage of walkers on the Kepler, Routeburn and Milford tracks coming from overseas was 75 per cent, 72 per cent and 67 per cent respectively.

Tourism is New Zealand’s most valuable industry, contributing about $35 billion a year to the economy. Government figures show international tourists bring in $40m a day, and the number of arrivals is rising 20 per cent a year.

We say: Charging foreigners more is fair,

It is not easy being Green. You spend years as a bridesmaid of the Left, stare the possibility of electoral defeat in the face and then find that some of your best ideas have been adapted by the Government.

When Prime Minister Bill English announced a policy to fund conservation by charging international tourists more on our nine Great Walks, some politics watchers experienced a sense of deja vu. It was only in August 2016 that the Green Party released a policy that would see every international visitor charged an extra $14 to $18 at the border, later raised to $20 – whether or not they are walking our tracks.

The Greens expected the levy would raise $58 million a year towards making New Zealand predator-free.

The National Party’s policy is much less ambitious. It is expected to raise $4m a year, all of which will go to Department of Conservation (DOC) programmes. It came on the same day that Conservation Minister Maggie Barry announced an extra $5.4m per year for community conservation. But these are tiny figures compared to DOC’s already pressured annual budget of $376m.

Rather than the sum raised, National’s policy should receive attention for its philosophical shift. This is a user-pays policy. Recognising that our great outdoors is a significant tourist draw, it makes foreign visitors pay their way while New Zealanders are still able to do the Great Walks at current, lower rates.

Despite their popularity, the Great Walks run at a $1m loss. It seems fair that international visitors pay extra.

The policy says that from October 2018, international visitors will pay double the fee on the five most popular Great Walks, which are Milford, Routeburn, Kepler, Abel Tasman and Tongariro, and 50 per cent more on the other Great Walks and back-country hut passes.

There will also be charges applied to the Paparoa National Park Track, which is still being constructed, and two further Great Walks planned in the 2017 Budget.

The last fee increase, in May, applied equally to locals and foreigners. At the time, a DOC media release said about 60 per cent of Great Walks visitors were international and ‘‘the feedback we often get is how amazing [the walks] are and how cheap’’.

There is a sense that we have been almost giving ourselves away to tourists. The release compared the $54 charged per night for the Milford Track – ‘‘arguably the greatest walk in the world’’ – with the Three Capes Track in Tasmania, which costs around $180 per night. DOC said the Great Walks network had hosted 120,000 people over the previous year.

This week’s announcement also hinted at an unresolved tension in DOC. The line between tourism infrastructure and conservation is a fine one and budgets tend to be split almost evenly between recreation and natural heritage.

In this light, any policies that help to put a few more resources towards what many see as DOC’s core business at the expense of tourists must be seen as positive, even if the scale of the policy and the sums raised still seem cautious compared to the ‘‘taonga levy’’ floated by the Green Party.

National’s policy should receive attention for its philosophical shift.