Stewart Island Rakiura tourist levy may be tripled to cover rising costs

Rakiura Stewart Island's visitor levy has been frozen for the past nine years. Photo / Jeremy Pierce

By RNZ

Southland district councillors will consider raising the visitor levy to Stewart Island/Rakiura to $15.

The levy is paid by visitors over 18 and has sat at $5 since coming into effect in 2013.

The council's community and strategy committee would debate the proposal to triple the levy at its meeting on Tuesday.

If agreed, it would then go to the council before going out for public consultation.

The levy had raised more than $1.2 million, with more than a million dollars allocated for infrastructure improvements, operational costs and other projects on the island.

However, it was not enough to cover visitor costs going forward, the council said.

"The bylaw and policy were last reviewed in 2018/2019, when council endorsed keeping the levy at $5 until a strategic review of service delivery to Stewart Island/Rakiura was completed.

"As a result of the review, it has been projected that the current visitor levy is unlikely to be sufficient to fund the future cost of visitor-related activities.

"The proposal to increase to $15 is considered to achieve a balance between the cost of projects scheduled for the island, and the impact of these costs on ratepayers, without negatively affecting visitor demand for the island.

Levy hike: Tour operators fear Stewart Island's new levy could deter walkers from visiting the Rakiura Track. Photo / Supplied

"During a pre-consultation engagement with members of the island community and external stakeholders in September 2021 most respondents said they favoured an increase, although the preferred amount of the increase varied."

But Stewart Island Promotions chair Aaron Joy, who also operated Stewart Island Backpackers, feared tripling the levy would drive away visitors at a tough time for those in the visitor sector.

"They look at it as easy money," he said.

"But if they put it up to $15 then that's $15 that goes on every ticket . . . and suddenly you're into the situation where 'Oh, well it's too dear to go to', and this is what they've got to be very, very careful of.

"With just the New Zealand market, sure we're getting people here, but it could easily price itself off the market really quickly where it becomes another Queenstown."

It the proposed increase was supported by the council, formal consultation was scheduled for 1 to 31 March.