Tourism operators want more certainty on the future of Milford Sound-Piopiotahi after years of waiting for a decision on a multi-million dollar infrastructure plan.
Milford Sound Tourism chief executive Haylee Preston told 1News that visitors had returned in droves to the idyllic fiord in the South Island’s Fiordland National Park, which he said was “back up to 96% [of adult cruise passengers] pre-Covid”.
“There’ll probably be [between] 3500 and 4000 visitors in there today,” she said.
While high visitor numbers were great for business, they were also highlighting some “severe infrastructure challenges” for what’s been described as the “Eighth Wonder of the World”.
The latest figures from Milford Sound Tourism showed adult cruise passenger numbers were growing year-by-year from 2014 to 2019.
It said numbers had grown from around 462,000 to nearly 750,000 annual visits a year by 2020.
That dropped off significantly during Covid to around 250,000 in 2020 — around 131,000 in 2021 — and 240,000 in 2022.
Now, Milford Sound Tourism reported numbers had rebounded back to more than 700,000 last year.
Future development plans have stalled as operators wait on a decision from the Government on sign-off on a multi-million dollar project — known as the Milford Opportunities Project (MOP) — tasked with future-proofing the tourist destination.
The project outline was publicly released back in 2021.
Asked about what has happened since that report, Destination Milford Sound’s Mark Quickfall told 1News: “Not a lot.”
“In 2021, the MOP project got underway, [nearly] $20m later and still no result,” he said.
It was developed by stakeholders for Milford Sound and funded through a mixture of funding grants, the majority through central government.
The vision included possibly charging access fees to international tourists to manage and help with upgrades and maintenance in the fjord.
It also looked at hydrogen tour buses to combat emissions and significant changes to parking and buildings.
1News contacted the MOP board, but received no reply and has since been told it has been disestablished.
Guided walks owner of Trips and Tramps Steve Norris said “there was lots of good consulting and re-imagining, but that’s as far as it’s gone”.
“We haven’t actually seen anything, any changes,” he said.
Glenorchy Air managing director James Stokes knows this all too well.
“Those [cruise passenger] numbers are starting to creep up, and we do need to take some action to improve the infrastructure for the visitor experience,” he said.
Operators wanted to invest in the new infrastructure and hoped it would happen in the lull of Covid-19 while not as many people were there.
But they have been waiting for an outcome.
Preston said: “We can’t invest when we don’t have any certainty around the future plans because we don’t understand what those plans are.
“We need to reinvest into such things as parking, wastewater plants, and the visitor terminal in there needs to be redeveloped also.”
While a survey shows visitor satisfaction in Milford Sound is high, there was still concern that it could be impacted if nothing is done soon.
“At the end of the day, the people that go there, they’re still having a fantastic experience, and that will continue to happen because it’s a world-class destination,” Norris said.
“But it’s just like the infrastructure starts getting pretty creaky, it just needs action, something to happen.”
Ultimately, the final decision on this place remained in the hands of Cabinet.
As the government wants to invest heavily in tourism, as part of its economic growth strategy, operators say they need the certainty to invest and achieve that goal.
Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said it is still being worked on.
“We need to get into a space where actually we’re all comfortable to make a decision. We need to take that back to Cabinet that will be taken in due course.
“But let me get around the table over a green smoothie with [new Tourism] Minister Louise Upston first so we can carry it forward.”
That has left some operators frustrated.
Quickfall said, “We can understand it to a degree, there is a process, but there’s also some urgency”.
Concessions also a problem
On top of all this, another issue raised about long-term certainty in the area, and the sector as a whole, is DOC concession passes that allow commercial activity in national parks.
James Stokes told 1News, “The tourism operators need to get some security of tenure… So that we can invest in improving the infrastructure, improving our experiences.
“If we don’t know that we’re going to be still operating in two or three years because our concessions haven’t been renewed, we can’t invest.”
A spokesperson for the DOC said, “Rolling on concessions have not expired – they allow concessionaires to continue operating while their new applications are processed.”
“Currently, the Department of Conservation administers approximately 150 rolling on concessions in national parks across Aotearoa.
“There is a programme of work underway right now to reduce the concession application backlog to give concessionaires the certainty they need to invest in their operations on public conservation land.
“Given the complexity of applications, which often need the input of technical specialists, this work will take time – but is a priority for the Department and we are already seeing a reduction in this backlog,” DOC said.
