Overcrowding in National Parks

I just have to laugh when reading these articles. Obviously it's a newspaper and everything is a crisis else it's not worth writing about. I'm sure the other pages are full of complaints people don't go outdoors anymore.

some american walks require permits to get on them... theres a limited no of permits available... they've put gates up in Venice, when x no of visitors have entered for the day the gates lock... not sure if they let more people in as others leave though.. be interesting what happens on the Tongariro crossing, the local Iwi are supposed to get a bigger say over how its managed... surely they can't keep letting unlimited no's on the crossing on the rate the no's are increasing seems DOC's answer has been to increase the facilities and start planning more day walks. not sure the latter will make much difference, not much harder to do an extra walk... the crossing is on peoples bucket list, other walks won't have the reputation

It's a common problem everywhere in the world I suppose. Tourism it's growing everywhere. Accessible flights tickets and more information spread through the social network like Instagram and Facebook put places that were hide before to a worldwide platform. As I said before it's not problem just for tourism in NZ or National Park in America but is definitely everywhere. I'm Italian,from Sicily exactly. When I was a kid I remember that the beaches back home even in the full of summer were quite and with not so much people around. Going back at home last year and the same places are overcrowded and tourist from all the world invading spot that were peaceful before making life hard for local people that want a bit of quite time.... Solution? In Venice they want to put a close number for tourist each year...but still big industries like food industries are making a big deal about because they will loose potential customers of course. To be honest I don't know if there is a solution. I still want remember though that you Kiwisare quite lucky. Nz is very far from everything and people to come down under really need to stretch out a bit...so even if tourism has been growing since Lord of the rings movies I still think that Nz it's quite peaceful and not overcrowding. This is my humble opinion of course.

guiseppe23: "When I was a kid I remember that the beaches back home even in the full of summer were quite and with not so much people around." I think you have become used to NZ beaches, and when you went back, it just felt so much busier :-)

@berend Hahahahh Who knows 😁... But place that were totally unknown to foreigners people now are full of tourist...so something definitely happened 👍

i remember the tongariro crossing when it was quiet, you could easily find a park at the road end any time of day, and have the crossing almost to yourself.. the other people you came across were usually kiwis... most places i tramped i only met kiwis, abel tasman was the main exception.. now it's not uncommon for kiwis to be a minority in a lot of the places I go... some days i only meet foreigners and no shortage of them.

It's getting to the stage here that I'm looking forward to retiring in 5 years so I can get a chance to stay at a hut by going mid-week e.g. Mt Brown Hut and even Tarn Hut here in Canterbury. We had several trips into Sudden Valley Biv before we were able to actually stay there for the night and Pfeifer Biv is the same. Even Big Tops now has a 50% chance of having people there when we visit. It used to get a handful of parties a year. We can only go into Pinchgut Hut over the range when the Okuku is running high enough to keep people out. I can remember when half these places had no foot trail, let alone a track! Mind you, cutting tracks to some of these bivs (as we have done) has made them popular which was our intent as it has saved them from removal.

The issue isn't use per say, the issue is usually facilities. When you can sleep in a insulated, enclosed structure with foam beds and in some cases flush toilets, they you're going to attract many more people than if you had to sleep in a 3 sided shelter with wood planks, or if people had to sleep in a tent. I mean I loved the Kepler Track, was beautiful, easy walking, alpine section, and best of all a loop, but staying in those huts was the worst part about it for me. We had the Tongariro Crossing to ourselves 3 years ago, on a Saturday in January, well actually we saw one person on our way up just before the old Devils Staircase, he looked at us like we were crazy, that's because the sun was setting and we did it at night. We walked across the Central Crater under a full moon, was incredible. If you think outside the box the wilderness is still empty.

>If you think outside the box the wilderness is still empty. I agree, I don't recall any problems with overcrowding the last time I slept under a tree in the middle of Theatre Flat in July...