The Department's visitor strategy is an internal document for the use of staff which is intended to guide and inform all the Department's planning and management relating to visitor services. It may also assist, where relevant, the implementation of conservation management strategies as well as management plans for national parks and other conservation areas.
The visitor strategy has emerged after a lengthy debate. It has been prepared after discussions with conservancy staff, two rounds of public comment and discussions with the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, Federated Mountain Clubs, New Zealand Tourism Board, the Ministry of Commerce tourism policy group, New Zealand Tourism Industry Association and the New Zealand Conservation Authority.
The strategy explains why the areas managed by the Department have been protected and their importance as places for visitors to enjoy. It then considers five key issues:
- the protection of intrinsic natural and historic values
- fostering visits by the public
- managing tourism concessions on protected lands
- informing and educating visitors
- managing visitor safety, and risk management.
Each issue is discussed in terms of the department's statutory requirements, its goals and guiding principles and its management response.
The five inter-related goals of the strategy are:
Goal 1 - Protection
To ensure that the intrinsic natural and historic values of areas managed by the Department are not compromised by the impacts of visitor activities and related facilities and services. (This links closely to other key department strategic initiatives such as the biodiversity action plan and the historic heritage strategy.)
Goal 2- Fostering Visits
To manage a range of recreational opportunities that provide contact with New Zealand's natural and historic heritage; and provide a range of recreational and educational facilities and services consistent with the protection of the intrinsic natural and historic values of Department-managed areas.
Goal 3 - Managing Tourism Concessions on Protected Lands
In managing a range of recreational opportunities, to allow the private sector to provide visitor facilities and services where they do not compromise the intrinsic natural and historic values of areas managed by the Department and do not compromise the experiences or opportunities of other visitors.
Goal 4 - Informing and Educating Visitors
To share knowledge about our natural and historic heritage with visitors, to satisfy their requirements for information, deepen their understanding of this heritage and develop an awareness of the need for its conservation. (This goal operates alongside 'Conservation Connections', the Department's public awareness strategy.)
Goal 5 - Visitor Safety
To provide visitors with facilities that are safe and are located, designed, constructed and maintained in accordance with all relevant legislation and sound building practices to meet appropriate safety standards. To raise visitor awareness of the risks present in department-managed areas and the level of skill and competence they will require to cope with these risks.
In managing the provision of facilities and services for visitors department staff need to consider a wide range of factors including:
- the natural and historic values that are being protected
- the Department's relationship with Maori
- access to, and the recreational opportunities present in, an area
- appropriate visitor activities
- appropriate visitor facilities and services
- appropriate visitor information
- visitor and staff safety
- conflicts between visitors and different visitor activities
- the role of tourism concessions
- the Department's relationship with communities, recreation and conservation groups and other associates.
In the past, there has been a tendency to focus solely on the provision of visitor facilities and services, ignoring many of the other factors. The visitor strategy signals a move toward a more holistic approach towards visitor services.
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