21 Feb 2017

Charging tourists to access national parks could become a reality

From Morning Report, 8:48 am on 21 February 2017

Charging tourists to access New Zealand's national parks has been on Department of Conservation's radar for some time.

But it's only now, after seeing how successful the concept is in South America, that DoC's director general Lou Sanson is thinking seriously about it.

Current legislation prevents DOC from charging a single cent.

Mr Sanson says New Zealanders do like to welcome tourists without having to charge them, but the increase in tourists leaves us with few other options.