New Zealand’s Infrastructure Is Struggling From Too Many Tourists

March 20, 2017 5:00 am
New Zealand's Tourism Boom Causing Infrastructure Issues
Tekapo lake with Aoraki-Mount Cook (3724 m) in the background, New Zealand. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)
New Zealand's Tourism Boom Causing Infrastructure Issues
New Zealand’s Tekapo lake with Aoraki-Mount Cook in the background. (DeAgostini/Getty Images)

 

Planning on visiting New Zealand soon? Maybe it’s not that great an idea. According to Bloomberg, the once practically untouched, Edenic vacation destination is now dealing with a larger-than-expected tourism boom, which has stretched the country’s infrastructure to its limits. Popular hiking trails are becoming overrun, small-town adventure hubs are dealing with sewage backups, and the towns around remote destinations are finding it difficult to pay for expanded parking lots or rest areas for the influx of thrill-seekers.

The sudden influx of tourists is also causing issues on the macroeconomic level as well. “Government research last year identified a likely shortage of more than 4,500 hotel rooms by 2025, after taking into account existing construction plans for about 5,200 new rooms,” notes Bloomberg. The solution for issues like this? Projects from private investors.

Or simply, less tourists.

If you’re still intent on visiting New Zealand despite all this, here are seven things you need to know before arriving there.

 

—RealClearLife

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