Source: Radio New Zealand
Lake Tekapo’s Iconic Landmark. RNZ/ Rachel Thomas
Some Mackenzie District workers are resorting to sleeping in cars, campervans or commuting because there are not enough affordable, long-term rentals.
The local mayor has described Tekapo and Twizel as bursting at the seams with visitors, saying it was a welcome economic boost, but it was coming at a cost.
Hundreds of homes were earmarked for short-term stays and prices remained high, leaving some struggling to find a roof over their heads.
Tour guide Elsie said Tekapo was a must-see for all of her groups.
But finding a bed or rental for the many guides who passed through was a challenge.
She described the accommodation as expensive, and in high demand and short supply during peak visitor season, and sometimes guides could not find a place to stay.
“In Tekapo, there is a camping area, but they only can sleep in the car and then … next day, they need to work nine to ten hours and then drive probably roughly two to five hours. So, it’s quite hard job for them if they couldn’t sleep very well,” she said.
She had also resorted to sleeping in a car a few times, but was now linking up with other guides in the hope they might have more luck finding a rental.
LJ Hooker Twizel salesperson Karan MacDiarmid said rentals were in short supply in her town and their property management team had a waiting list.
They were encouraging homeowners to consider their options, she said.
“There’s a lot that are in the Airbnb market, the short-term market, and to support this town, we still need to look after people who want to live here and work here …so we need long-term rentals,” she said.
A lot of families wanted a holiday home in Twizel, and investors were also eyeing up properties, MacDiarmid said.
“They know there’s a shortage of long-term accommodation. They see it through the social media, Facebook. People just desperate, wanting it,” she said.
It was great to see investors wanting to buy for long-term rentals and help keep the town working, she said.
She wanted to find a balance – developing their town to better cope with the tourist numbers as well as growing the number of locals and workers living there too.
Mackenzies Bar & Grill restaurant manager Karmi Dabbay said business was booming, but finding somewhere for staff to live was a challenge.
They have staff accommodation, but she said there was not enough of it and sometimes they had asked workers if they had a campervan when they ran out of rooms.
“It’s really hard at the same time to manage the tourists and the people who will work for the business itself,” she said.
“I know that we’re getting a lot of money from here, but at the same time, we have to prioritise those people who want to work and have a good accommodation because at the end of the day, people want to have their own room. A safe space for them, time for them to relax after an exhausting day.”
Mackenzie District Council. Google Maps
Last year, a council survey found the majority of residents believed tourism was good for the region, but nearly all of them had been negatively affected by tourism in the area.
Mackenzie District mayor Scott Aronsen said tourism was a massive economic driver for the region, but it was also putting huge pressure on infrastructure and housing.
He did not want to kick short-term rentals to the curb, but said they needed to encourage more homeowners and investors to consider switching to long-term rentals.
He acknowledged that it was a difficult ask, saying some turned over up to $90,000 a year as a short stay when it might earn significantly less as a long-term rental.
He knew some people were travelling more than half an hour from Twizel and Fairlie to work in Tekapo.
“From what I can ascertain from the freedom camping ambassadors that move through – effectively they’re rangers – there are definitely people that are sleeping in cars,” Aronsen said.
Last busy season, he said roughly $145,000 in abatement notices were handed to freedom campers not following the rules.
But close to $50,000 of that had to be written off because they did not pay the fine.
The Tekapo wastewater treatment plant was also under the pump. He said it was designed for about 3000 people per day.
“Currently, it’s working way over its capacity of its limits – approximately 10,000 people per day – so our sewage system in Tekapo has been pushed to the absolute limits,” he said.
An estimated $40-$50 million was needed for an upgrade.
They also faced a “bureaucratic monster” when it came to trying to free up land for more housing, he said.
Land was also in short supply and some of it was already earmarked for industrial use under an old council spatial plan, which was both difficult and time-consuming to change, Aronsen said.
The Mackenzie District Council was exploring more user-pay toilets as an option to help cover the $800,000 a year bill ratepayers faced to clean public bathrooms.
The government has been pushing for more tourism growth, but Scott Aronsen said that was not sustainable without more support.
“If you want more growth, then we need more facilities and we need our share of that IVL (international visitor levy) money because at the moment tourism is costing our ratepayers,” he said.
There was work underway to figure out the holistic cost tourism was having on the district’s ratepayers, which was expected to be finished later this month.
Other popular destinations, including Queenstown, have also raised similar concerns that their small ratepayer base was insufficient to cover the rising costs associated with growing visitor numbers.
The Tourism and Hospitality Minister has previously signalled that [. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/582869/significant-changes-on-the-horizon-for-tourism-industry
significant changes] could be on the horizon for the industry and figuring out a sustainable funding model was one of the issues expected to be addressed.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand