Travel to New Zealand now, have it to yourself
Country considering charging visitors for unique experiences
New Zealand is throwing open its borders after more than two years — and there may never be a better time to visit.
Tourism operators have rehired guides, dusted out souvenir shops and gotten ready to welcome back international visitors, so long as they can produce proof of vaccination and a negative pre-departure test. But they don’t expect a rapid return to the old normal, when hordes of foreigners packed the most popular sites and stretched infrastructure to the breaking point.
In fact, the government wants to move away from the mass tourism that trampled New Zealand’s pristine landscapes before the pandemic. It’s considering charging foreigners to visit unique areas, and wants to entice more high-spending guests who will stay longer and pay for special experiences. The changes under discussion echo those implemented across the Pacific in Hawaii, where tourists pay fees to visit fragile natural sites in an effort to make tourism more sustainable.
For now those issues aren’t so pressing. Places like Milford Sound, an otherworldly corner of New Zealand’s South Island famed for its rugged beauty, will most likely be devoid of crowds through the upcoming winter season. With its sheer cliffs, cascading waterfalls, and inky fjord, Milford was once dubbed “the eighth wonder of the world” by the writer Rudyard Kipling.
“Pre-COVID, there were close to 900,000 visitors to Milford a year,” says Mark Quickfall, owner of Totally Tourism, which operates
a range of adventure and sightseeing businesses in the South Island. “We would be lucky to have 20% of that at the moment. Destinations will be under a lot less pressure. Tourists will get a great experience.”
There’s excitement and relief at the revival of tourism, which prior to the pandemic generated more foreign income for New Zealand than its dairy industry. In 2019 it directly contributed 5.6% to annual gross domestic product and employed 8.1% of the country’s workforce.
The Tourism Export Council, which represents inbound operators, forecasts that in the coming year arrivals will be just
over half of pre-COVID numbers. By 2025, it predicts 3.2 million annual overseas visitors — a number that would still fall short of the 3.9 million who came in 2019.
Small towns and remote destinations frequently suffered the most. The popularity of the Tongariro Crossing—a hike across an active volcanic landscape in the central North Island—proved too much for toilet facilities, resulting in human waste being left beside the track. The sewerage treatment system at the South Island town of Franz Joseph was unable to handle the crowds of visitors to the nearby glacier.
Adventure operator
Quickfall says if there was a silver lining in COVID19 it was the opportunity to reset. “One of the things we all agree on is that we have no ambition to go back to pre-COVID times when everything was like a stretched rubber band,” he says. “If we get back to 70% to 80% of what we were and have the rightsized business, we will be quite happy with that. And deliver a good, quality product.”
Your little black book to the ‘new’ New Zealand
Here’s a download on the latest places to stay and private experiences to book around the country.
New amid the pandemic are the Carlin hotel in Queenstown and the Park Hyatt in Auckland, both of which command striking waterfront views from balconied suites in their respective destinations. The Carlin is more intimate, with a total capacity of just 50 guests, spread out among mini apartments with as many as four bedrooms. (The largest ones have hot tubs on their private terraces, which face picturesque Queenstown Bay and mountain-backed Lake Wakatipu.) The Park Hyatt, meanwhile, is a more urban option: It sits in the middle of Wynyard Quarter, a revitalized harborfront neighborhood packed with restaurants and green spaces.
Robertson Lodges, long a standard-setter for luxury accommodations that are tucked among New Zealand’s most jaw-dropping landscapes, is still a go-to for five-star adventures. Upon reopening, they’ve added helicopter fly fishing day trips that you can take from either Matakauri Lodge, in Queenstown, or their more-iconic Farm at Cape Kidnappers, nestled on cliffs above the stunning Hawke’s Bay coastline. The waters where the choppers touch down have been practically untouched for the last few years, and are teeming with trout.
Don’t fancy yourself an angler? Go heli-drinking instead. The distillers at Mt. Fyffe and the adventure operator Altitude both had the same idea when they decided to each kickstart day trips that send groups of four to meet with award-winning gin producers whose operations are outside remote mountain and gold mining towns; it’s the type of experience you can have only in New Zealand.
So are Great Walks. These epic trails are a signature way to experience the outdoors, spanning deep limestone gorges and vast valleys. Newly added to the official list is Paparoa Track, traversing some 35 miles along the west coast of the South Island. It cuts through karst formations and ancient forests, with overnight options for both committed walkers and mountain bikers along the way.
Whom to call: South Island-based Jean-Michel Jefferson of travel agency Ahipara is a true New Zealand specialist. He can arrange every last creature comfort for off-the-grid adventurers—or plan more conventional trips that feature the country’s best accommodations, chefs and private experiences.