I was in South Island for a fortnight a month ago, rented a people carrier with a mattress in the back, and went hiking all over the shop.
Some places and campsites were heaving - but in others, we saw nobody for days at a time, staying in the very well maintained DoC huts which dot the mountains.
Up near Arthur's pass, for instance, all of the listed DoC camp sites were crowded and in pretty unpleasant locations - but if you're prepared to tramp for five hours over rough terrain, fording rivers and what not, you get the mountains and the huts to yourselves. Crow hut stands out as a "I can't believe nobody else wants to come here" moment.
In Franz Josef, we eschewed a glacier hike and instead tramped up Alex Knob - saw maybe a dozen others doing the same - but looking back at the glacier through binoculars was like looking at ants on a cake.
Following this we went to East Antarctica, and saw nary a soul - but then you get to the peninsula and it's like a bad day on the M25.
I dare say part of the issue here is distribution of tourists and their activities - for whatever reason (reviews? recommendations? advertising? "If it's free it must be bad"?) people tend to go where other people already are, and don't go to those places which are less frequented.
The only place that felt oppressively busy was Queenstown on our first night, where we stayed in a £250/night fleapit motel.
Sustainability in tourism isn't just an NZ problem, it's global and growing - and it's not just about infrastructure, but also at what point does the popularity of a locale cause such crowding that it becomes unappealing and self-destructs?
Oh, and I write this from Ushuaia, which exists these days largely due to the tourist trade and likewise seems to be struggling to keep up with demand growth - new developments are springing up on the outskirts while city centre frontage sits abandoned, and locals mutter about water shortages.
Not only that, but it seems many travel solely to take a selfie in the same spot as 10,000,000 others have, without actually stopping to take in the view.
But then, many went on grand tours not to have experiences, but to be able to say they had, so little has changed other than accessibility.
I was in South Island for a fortnight a month ago, rented a people carrier with a mattress in the back, and went hiking all over the shop.
Some places and campsites were heaving - but in others, we saw nobody for days at a time, staying in the very well maintained DoC huts which dot the mountains.
Up near Arthur's pass, for instance, all of the listed DoC camp sites were crowded and in pretty unpleasant locations - but if you're prepared to tramp for five hours over rough terrain, fording rivers and what not, you get the mountains and the huts to yourselves. Crow hut stands out as a "I can't believe nobody else wants to come here" moment.
In Franz Josef, we eschewed a glacier hike and instead tramped up Alex Knob - saw maybe a dozen others doing the same - but looking back at the glacier through binoculars was like looking at ants on a cake.
Following this we went to East Antarctica, and saw nary a soul - but then you get to the peninsula and it's like a bad day on the M25.
I dare say part of the issue here is distribution of tourists and their activities - for whatever reason (reviews? recommendations? advertising? "If it's free it must be bad"?) people tend to go where other people already are, and don't go to those places which are less frequented.
The only place that felt oppressively busy was Queenstown on our first night, where we stayed in a £250/night fleapit motel.
Sustainability in tourism isn't just an NZ problem, it's global and growing - and it's not just about infrastructure, but also at what point does the popularity of a locale cause such crowding that it becomes unappealing and self-destructs?
Oh, and I write this from Ushuaia, which exists these days largely due to the tourist trade and likewise seems to be struggling to keep up with demand growth - new developments are springing up on the outskirts while city centre frontage sits abandoned, and locals mutter about water shortages.