by Hallu » Tue 29 May, 2018 6:34 pm
I'd say that we are tourists. On one hand, we pollute less than regular tourists, because we don't take tours, we don't litter, are more respectful of nature in general. However, we also consume less. We don't stay in fancy hotels, don't eat in restaurants most of the time, so we help the local economy less per daily stay. Although I seem to remember travellers who hike stay longer so maybe it's all balanced out. I, as a tourist, also tend to seek out more off the beaten path spots than regular tourists.
To react to the article, I think New Zealand should welcome this tourism boom. They should invest in conservation, better roads, more protected parks. Also, when you have so many tourists coming in anyway, you can afford to shut down fragile places such as glaciers. Speaking as a citizen of the n°1 tourism destination in the world, France, I'd say the solution is to market large and promote different areas equally. Some parts of France are crowded, like Dordogne and the riviera, but the rest is fine and still gorgeous. You can visit Brittany and Normandy all year without much trouble, only Mont Saint Michel can be a hastle. Same with the Alps, Alsace, the Loire Valley...and all those places still are prime tourism spots. Nowadays people know you can visit just about any region of France and have a great time. They don't know that about NZ yet. They seem to concentrate on a few spots, like Fiordland, Queenstown, Mt Cook/Pukaki/Tekapo, Abel Tasman, Fox Glacier... But areas like the Catlins or Kahurangi are undervisited. Kahurangi would greatly benefit from one or two access roads. It would probably be controvertial, but would relieve some of the pressure on Abel Tasman.
When I was in NZ I couldn't care less about the Lord of the Rings shooting locations. I went for the lakes, the rivers, the forests, the glaciers... and was pleasantly surprised by the wildlife you could see on the coast : sealions, seals and penguins especially. I couldn't believe some wildlife spots were so quiet, with very few tourists. Overall I found that when I saw tourists, it was in the form of a lot of bustours yeah, especially in Fiordland and on the West Coast. A lot more than in Australia or the US. Norway is a bit like NZ too, and that's because they both have the same thing : accessible glaciers and fjords, easily seen from the roads or after a short walk/boat ride.