City benefits from camping education

Freedom camping is not considered a major problem in Rotorua, but the city is benefiting from a nationwide campaign to better educate camping tourists.

The New Zealand Responsible Camping Forum has now been running for four years and chairman Geoff Ensor said the educational programmes and new fines regime meant more campers were staying in holiday parks, Department of Conservation campsites and designated free-camping areas.

Its "Where Can I Camp?" campaign provides information to travellers through campervan companies, the www.camping.org.nz website, hostel noticeboards and in car yards. The www.camping.org.nz website is receiving about 60,000 hits a year.

"Most visitors want to do the right thing, but they need to have good information that clearly shows where camping is acceptable. Doing the right thing doesn't happen by chance."

The forum consists of campervan companies, the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, local government representatives, Government agencies and tourism organisations and is in its second summer working with the Interislander and Bluebridge ferry companies to distribute brochures to campers crossing Cook Strait.

Last year's Freedom Camping Act allows councils to fine campers ignoring the rules, although forum members are keen to see fines used as a last resort.

Rotorua District Council is taking such an approach. Regulatory and support services manager Jim Nicklin said the council received very few complaints about freedom camping.

"It is not a major issue in Rotorua, despite the fact we have a constant presence of campervans in the district. We have not had any complaints recently."

Nicklin said there were complaints during the Rugby World Cup period when Rotorua was inundated with campervans, especially at the Lakefront and local parks, but investigations had not produced any evidence of undue disregard for the environment.

"People were not happy and thought they should have been in camping grounds, but we were very happy with the way these campers behaved."

He said the council did not want to give the impression Rotorua was unfriendly towards visitors and took a "reasonable" approach.

Destination Rotorua Marketing general manager Oscar Nathan agreed it was important take a pragmatic approach - making visitors feel welcome by focusing on education about responsible camping rather than jumping straight into enforcement.

"During the influx of the Rugby World Cup, we needed to ensure we were seen as visitor friendly, while still making it clear that this was not something we would tolerate all the time."

Nathan said Rotorua's holiday parks had great facilities and could be promoted to visitors for what they added to campers' travel experiences.