New Zealand's most in-demand Great Walk, the Milford Track, has had next summer's spots booked out in just three minutes.
Bookings opened on Tuesday for spots on New Zealand's Great Walks in 2022/23. In the blink of an eye, Milford Track was fully booked.
"At 9.30am we had 6000 customers logged on, all looking to book the 7480 spaces on the Milford. All available spaces were reserved within three minutes, although some bookings were subsequently cancelled or updated," Department of Conservation's heritage and visitors director Tim Bamford said.
Bookings data shows 80% of bunk space was booked by New Zealanders, 10% by Australians, and 5% by US citizens. The remaining 5% was taken up by a mix of overseas customers.
“I’m heartened to see New Zealanders continuing to book onto the Milford in high numbers, alongside the return of international visitors which will be a boon for Te Anau and Southland communities,” Bamford said.
“We’ve already been asked about bots taking all the spots but analysis has shown no evidence of the mass-manufactured email addresses typically associated with bots. Because of the way the booking process is designed and how inventory is reserved early in the booking process, there would be no advantage to using a bot anyway.”
“We really sympathise with all those who didn’t secure a spot this time. It’s a case of demand exceeding supply. The good news is that there are nine other stunning Great Walks to choose from including Abel Tasman, Rakiura and the Heaphy which opened for 2022/23 bookings today.”
The Heaphy Great Walk will be running as return trips from either the West Coast or Golden Bay ends of the track for the foreseeable future while DOC works to repair severe storm damage. This includes the replacement of a 147.3-metre suspension bridge over Heaphy River.
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