Monitoring insights for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing
DOC uses a range of information to monitor and adapt management of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing to be more sustainable.

Sustainable management means understanding and being responsive to the cultural, environmental, social and economic effects of change. For the Tongariro Alpine Crossing DOC has access to data from:

  • activity counters on the track,
  • the booking system,
  • the Hazardous Weather Alert system,
  • track and toilet maintenance records,
  • feedback from staff, as well as information shared by other organisations.

These can be used to develop insights to help us respond to pressures and improve management of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing over time.

More insights will be added to this page as it becomes available.

Visitor statistics

The following numbers are estimated using activity counter and booking data. They may be revised as more data is collected and tools are refined:

  • We estimate between 100,000 and 110,000 visitors currently use some, or all, of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing in the summer walking season (between October and April).
  • Use of the track is growing: in 2024/25 the average daily activity was 5.6% higher than the previous season.
  • Monitoring suggests that while most visitors walk the whole track end to end from Mangatepopo to Ketetahi, an increasing number are making return trips of varying length, especially from Mangatepopo.
  • Around 6,000 visitors access the track as part of longer overnight trips such as Te Araroa Trail, Tongariro Northern Circuit and the Round the Mountain Track. This is based on available data for those experiences.
  • Approximately 97,000 walkers were included in nearly 40,000 bookings,.
  • Booking data shows that 80% were international visitors and 75% planned to use concessioned transport or guides. This is consistent with patterns from previous years but may not be representative of walkers without a booking.

Limitations

These estimates have an error margin of +/- 10% because:

  • Activity counters are not an exact count of visits or visitors.
  • There were no checks on the numbers of people who turned up for a given booking.

The estimates above should not be compared to historical data. This is because they are based on data from different measurement instruments in different locations along the track.

Weather

Weather is the biggest influence on busy days after New Zealand public holidays. Activity on the peak day of 2024/25 was 9.8% lower than on the peak day of 2023/24, despite the average day being 5.6% higher. This is likely because of poor weather during Easter 2025, since the peak day was on Easter weekend the year before.

Hazardous Weather Alerts are issued between October and April each year to alert visitors and DOC’s concessionaires to potentially hazardous conditions. While these are more likely to occur in autumn and spring, these warnings can arise in any month, and the patterns vary from year to year: in 2024/25 alerts were issued on 65 days, compared to 54 in 2023/24.