The tourism industry’s peak body, Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA), welcomes the opportunity to share views on modernising New Zealand’s conservation management system.
The Department of Conservation—Te Papa Atawhai (DOC)—has today released two discussion documents for public consultation. They cover a range of proposals to protect natural areas while supporting sustainable growth in tourism and regional economies.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa is delighted that DOC has opened a consultation on modernising conservation land management to streamline concessions. A proposal to charge access to some public conservation land is also being considered.
“We know that the concession system has been broken for some time. We are driven to ensure the process for getting a concession is clearer, faster, and more flexible. It should also provide greater certainty for operators,” TIA Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram says.
“There’s a great deal to digest, we will look carefully at the proposals and we’ll be getting the views of our members as we prepare our submission. It’s very important that consideration of access charging also recognises that the International Visitor Levy is now $100 and will generate tens of millions of dollars of funding for conservation and visitor management on the conservation estate,” Ms Ingram says.
