Department of Conservation to develop new Great Walks with part of $76m boost

Walkers in the southern crater of the Tongariro Crossing. DoC will develop a series of short walks as it gets a $76m funding boost. Photo / Mike Scott

The Department of Conservation will use its first significant funding boost for years to develop new trails, build better infrastructure on sometimes crowded Great Walks and develop a system for charging international tourists more to use them.

As part of a package to cope with growing pressure on tourist infrastructure, the Government today announced DoC will get a $76m funding boost for the next four years in the Budget later this month.

While an environmental group has described it as ''chicken feed'' and not doing anything for threatened species, DoC's director general Lou Sanson said a better quality tourism experience would provide more scope to "clip the ticket" to pay for eradicating pests.

"Ultimately we see tourism paying for a predator-free New Zealand."

Conservation minister Maggie Barry said the country had to be careful rapid tourism growth didn't negatively impact on anybody's visit.

"We've all seen the stories of the Tongariro Crossing where there are queues of people - we are very aware of the impact of these high visitor numbers," she said at Trenz, the tourism industry's big international sales event that is in Auckland this year.

Last week the Herald ran a series highlighting the pressure on national parks and on tourism infrastructure from the more than 3.5 million visitors to this country.

Barry said the new investment would improve the quality of experience at those sites most loved by Kiwis and international visitors, while also shifting awareness to the paths less travelled.

The department was scoping two new multi-day Great Walks to take pressure off existing ones and shorter walks that were attractive to many tourists unwilling to spend days on trails.

It was possible one-day the new Great Short Walks or Great Day Walks could be in the Tarawera and Taranaki regions.

"We know there are plenty of new locations that could easily support more visitors, relieve pressure on hotspots and develop a bigger share of the regional economic benefits of tourism," Barry says.

"Along with the Paparoa Great Walk on the West Coast, these new Great Walks would mark the first expansion of the network in around 25 years.

Private operators could help co-fund the new walks. The department could introduce higher prices for overseas visitors to use huts and campsites on Great Walks as early as next year but the premium they would pay has not been determined.

"It's a tricky one. We don't want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg - we don't want visitors to ever feel unwelcome but New Zealand."

The budget funding is made up of $44.6 million operating funding over four years and $31.3 million capital and includes:

• $23 million for improving visitor experiences on existing tracks. This could include new toilets and car parks.

• $11.4 million for improvements to DOC's online services to allow for charging for overseas visitors more for huts, campsites and car parks.

• $12.7 million towards the expansion of the Great Walks network.

• $5.7 million to develop Great Short Walks and Great Day Walks
.
• $19.8 million for upgraded tourist facilities.

Forest & Bird said Barry yesterday released her Threatened Species Strategy, to increase the number of animals and plants that DOC is managing but that announcement "came with no new money".

"The very next day, there is more money for DoC, but for toilets, car parks, huts and tracks," said advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell

While DoC urgently needed help to cope with the pressures created by the ''uncontrolled tourism boom'', it also needed to be properly funded to do its core work, which was protecting our native wildlife and habitats.

The $19 million a year "paled into insignificance" in comparison to the $53 million the Government is spending on the Expo 2020 in Dubai.

"The Government can find the big bucks to bring more tourists here, but DoC gets chicken feed to cope with the pressures brought about by that influx."