New Zealand has long had a problem with excess demand for access to tourist destinations. I've written about this before, using the Great Walks as an example (see here, and here). Because the price for access to these tourist destinations is too low, the demand for access far exceeds the supply. The consequence is a much-degraded experience for everyone.
The solution, as I have noted before, is to let the price increase. Charge more for access to the Great Walks, and other tourist destinations. And, finally, that may be about to happen. As the New Zealand Herald reported last week:
A $20 access fee for Cathedral Cove, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Franz Josef Glacier, Milford Sound, and Aoraki Mount Cook National Park?
The Government is floating the idea of charging visitors – including New Zealanders – as part of two discussion documents, released today, which Conservation Minister Tama Potaka calls the biggest potential changes in conservation in more than three decades...
Charging $20 per New Zealander and $30 per non-New Zealander for accessing those places would bring in an estimated $71 million a year. Charging only international visitors would yield about half that.
Charging for access to these tourist destinations would go some way towards dealing with the excess demand. I'm totally ok with the differential price for New Zealanders and overseas travellers as well (which is something I have noted before, again in the context of the Great Walks). My main concern though is that the price of $20 for New Zealanders and $30 for non-New Zealanders may be too low. However, others have a different view:
But it has triggered a strong reaction from Forest and Bird, which said: “Connection to te Taiao (nature) is a fundamental part of being a New Zealander. All New Zealanders should be guaranteed the ability to connect with our natural environment regardless of how much money they earn.”
How easily can New Zealanders connect with their natural environment when it is thronged with tourists all visiting for free? Charging a price for access limits the numbers of tourists (including other New Zealanders), and makes it more likely, not less likely, that New Zealanders can get genuine access to these places. There is a meaningful difference between accessing a tourist location when there are hundreds of other tourists swarming all over it, and when few people are around and a peaceful engagement with nature is possible.
Quite aside from this being a way for the government to fund the Department of Conservation's operational costs, this proposal to charge a fee for access to these tourist locations is a sensible way to manage demand. Maybe we will finally have a working solution to the excess demand problem in these places.
Read more:
No comments:
Post a Comment