Milford Sound plans: 'We've got to get on with it'

Tourism operators are welcoming more clarity on the government's plans for Milford Sound, but say it is now time for action.

A 2021 masterplan for the popular tourist destination recommended banning cruise ships, closing the airstrip, a park and ride system and charging overseas visitors a fee.

The government announced on Wednesday that about $15 million would go towards infrastructure upgrades and conservation projects, while confirming cruise ships and the airstrip will not be going anywhere, and it was sticking with unrestricted road access.

Glenorchy Air managing director James Stokes said the update gave the local aviation industry much needed certainty.

"The overall emotion is one of relief that we are going to definitely have an airfield in the future. We were confident that that's the way it was going, but good to hear it finally confirmed," he said.

The funding was a good start as Milford Sound had some immediate infrastructure needs it could help to address, Stokes said.

The tourism and hospitality and conservation ministers held a call for stakeholders on the day to outline the plans, including wanting to address long-standing concession issues for tourism operators.

"I'm keen to see what this reform is going to look like and keen to see how they're going to make it easier for businesses to operate in national parks responsibly," Stokes said.

"Just want to get on with it and see the work actually happen. We can't afford another year of nothing happening. We've got to get on with it."

Trips and Tramps co-owner Steve Norris said the announcement had been a long time coming and was moving in the right direction.

But it left him with questions.

A key one was how the traffic and parking would be better managed now the government sought to attract more visitors to the area.

"The summer just gone, the carpark's full most days and they're not putting any controls on the road right now... which is fine," Norris said.

But in the long term, numbers were expected to increase and there needed to be a solution, he said.

Visitor numbers hit 870,000 in 2019, up from 430,000 in 2013.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka said they now surpassed one million a year as Milford Sound was a magnet for tourists.

Potaka was also keen to address long standing concession issues for tourism operators as part of conservation reform.

It was an area Steve Norris also wanted to see addressed.

But he was pleased to hear they were replacing the boat ramp in Deepwater Basin for recreational boaties and local operators.

"Great news because that's probably 20 years past its use-by-date - the ramp that's in use at the moment - so that's very encouraging," he said.

Work on two of the projects that received funding - cleaning up Little Tahiti landfill and flood protections - had either wrapped up or was underway, so he hoped the money would go towards new projects.

The funding was coming from the international visitor levy and the Department of Conservation's capital works programme.

Initial policy documents released by DOC suggested that one-off investment costs of between $450-500 million were needed to cover new infrastructure, transport services, visitor facilities, experiences, walking, tracks, carparks, and roadside developments.

Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said she wanted to attract more visitors to Piopiotahi while still protecting it.

"We do know it is a real focus point for visitors coming to New Zealand so we don't want to restrict access to it and actually if you then mean the only route in is by road, that creates other difficulties," she said.

When the masterplan was launched, the reasoning for removing the airstrip was because it was in a poor state, exposed to flooding and tsunami risks, expensive to rebuild and only carried about three percent of visitors.

Upston acknowledged they needed to look at work to upgrade the airstrip, which could involve more helicopter use in the future.

Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram said the update addressed long standing uncertainty and gave direction to those wanting to invest in the region

"There are a lot of things that the industry can agree on when it comes to Milford and improving the experience and safety are two of them," she said.

"We have been strong advocates for a well-managed experience that is great for visitors, community, business and for the environment.

"We look forward to working with the Department of Conservation as the proposal goes from plan into action."