\n<\/p>\n
New Zealand plans to start charging international tourists fees to enter its famous natural sites and will make it easier for businesses to operate on conservation land as part of a controversial proposal to \u201cunleash\u201d growth on ecologically and culturally protected areas.<\/p>\n
The government plans to start charging foreign visitors NZ$20-40 ($12-24) per person to access some sites. Initially, those would probably include Cathedral Cove\/Te Whanganui-a-Hei, Tongariro Crossing, Milford Track and Aoraki Mount Cook. The fees are likely to be imposed from 2027.<\/p>\n
The conservation minister, Tama Potaka, said those fees could generate NZ$62m a year \u201cso we can keep investing in the sites that underpin so much of our tourism sector\u201d.<\/p>\n
The government\u2019s announcements form part of a wider shake-up of conservation law that will also make selling or exchanging conservation land easier and allow more activities to go ahead on conservation without needing a permit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the spirit of saying yes to more jobs, more growth and higher wages\u201d, the government would \u201cunleash a fresh wave of concessions\u201d including in tourism, agriculture and infrastructure at some locations, the prime minister, Christopher Luxon, said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Conservation land is protected, publicly owned land and makes up a third of New Zealand territory. It covers areas with biodiversity, historic or cultural value.<\/p>\n
Some businesses such as ski fields and grazing already operated on conservation land but many other businesses struggled to gain the same permission, Luxon said.<\/p>\n
It is the latest policy that seeks to loosen regulation on natural sites and species to enable economic growth. In 2024, the government passed a law that could see contentious mining and infrastructure projects fast-tracked for approval. It has also proposed a law change to make it easier for companies to kill protected wildlife in order to pursue certain infrastructure projects. Conservation and climate initiatives have also faced budget cuts.<\/p>\n
But critics say the changes risk harming the environment and vulnerable species. New Zealand has high rates of endemic biodiversity but some species are in worrying decline, with a high proportion threatened or at risk of extinction.<\/p>\n
Green party co-leader Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick said Luxon was putting profit above the protection of nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat tells us everything we need to know about who he thinks he works for. It\u2019s not regular people, future generations or a healthy environment,\u201d she said in a statement to the Guardian.<\/p>\n
Nicola Toki, the chief executive of New Zealand\u2019s largest conservation organisation, Forest & Bird, said the latest reforms \u201crepresent the most significant weakening of conservation law in a generation\u201d and would increase pressure on vulnerable species.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey shift the focus from protection to exploitation, dismantling the very purpose of our national parks and conservation lands.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Zealand plans to start charging international tourists fees to enter its famous natural sites and will make it easier for businesses to operate on conservation land as part of a controversial proposal to \u201cunleash\u201d growth on ecologically and culturally protected areas. The government plans to start charging foreign visitors NZ$20-40 ($12-24) per person to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[7589,1481,258,1509,5213,1774,1971],"class_list":{"0":"post-13924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-charge","9":"tag-famous","10":"tag-foreign","11":"tag-sites","12":"tag-tourists","13":"tag-visit","14":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}