Last updated 14:30, June 3 2018
BRADEN FASTIER/STUFF
Great Walks such as the Abel Tasman track are often booked out within days for peak periods.
Great Walks such as the Abel Tasman track are often booked out within days for peak periods.
New Zealanders could get preferential access to popular walks, under plans for a "Kiwi Share" system.
Department of Conservation figures show the proportion of Kiwis tramping the country's nine Great Walks has fallen every year since 2012, from just under half in 2012/13, to 38 per cent in 2016/17.
Of 2016/17's 127,000 trampers, about 78,000 were from overseas.
The Routeburn is one of four tracks where tourists will now be charged twice as much as Kiwis.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced on Saturday that international tourists would pay double for the four most popular Great Walks, to help cover the cost of tourist infrastructure.
Federated Mountain Clubs want DOC to go further. The organisation is working with the department on a "Kiwi Share" concept, which would give New Zealanders preferential booking for huts and weeks reserved entirely for Kiwis in popular areas.
"Kiwi Share is a banner for a range of mechanisms to make sure New Zealanders still get preferential access to our own land," said FMC president Peter Wilson.
Wilson also wanted the booking system tweaked to allow huts to be booked using an annual hut pass. The pass - intended as a cheap way for Kiwis to enjoy the backcountry - was increasingly being devalued as more and more huts were added to the booking system to manage track overcrowding.
Sage said no decision had yet been made about giving Kiwis preferential hut booking rights, but she had asked DOC to look at the logistics.
Director-General of Conservation, Lou Sanson, said DOC's new booking system would allow the department to differentiate between Kiwis and international tourists, so might be able to be further developed to give Kiwis preferential access.
With international walkers increasingly outnumbering Kiwis on Great Walks, there are concerns New Zealanders aren't getting a fair deal on their own land.
Forest & Bird advocacy manager Kevin Hackwell had to hang over his computer keyboard at 11am on a Tuesday one May - the day bookings opened - to secure places for his family to walk the Routeburn Track between Christmas and New Year.
"I know how difficult that is."
While he would applaud greater access for Kiwis to their own national parks, the bigger question was why DOC was having to find more complex ways to manage visitors.
"Because we have the problem of just too many people... it's all about volume not value - allowing unrestricted growth - and that is creating real problems. Until we address that issue, we will constantly be putting on band-aids. The wound will get bigger, and the band-aids won't work."