New Zealand aims on ‘high value’ tourism experiences

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

It’s never felt particularly crowded to me at Milford Sound. Walking the Milford Track, a 53-kilometres stroll through some of the most impressive sceneries of New Zealand, Fiordland, you don’t see all that many people.

In the huts at night, one can meet up with other “trampers”, can share stories as well as meals. In the day time, it’s easy to keep away from the masses out there on the trail, when you’re breathing in that beautiful air, gazing in those enigmatic views, soaking up one of the great tourism experiences of the world.

So it’s little astonishing to find that Milford Sound-Piopiotahi has been enduring a lot. Blame all the day-trippers. This is New Zealand’s one of the areas that has been impacted by overtourism during pre-pandemic days, with 870,000 visitors every year to an environment of great beauty and fragility. This figure has more than doubled within a decade. In this new era of travel, now, the Kiwis want to do something about it.

And it’s not just Milford Sound. In New Zealand, this is one of several areas in that have been hugely dependent on tourism and which have experienced huge visitor numbers as well, according to the NZ tourism minister, Stuart Nash. Last week, his plan was announced to scale up those tourist numbers in the future by targeting “high-value” visitors who will bring just as much money to these regions, with fewer annual visits.

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