Milford 'package’ now $450

Press, 12 April 1984, Page 4

Milford 'package’ now $450

PA Dunedin Walking the Milford Track on a five-day Tourists Hotel Corporation package will cost $450 after a 22.6 per cent increase approved this week by the Trade and Industry Department. The T.H.C. manager at Te Anau, Mr W. D. Neilsen, has said that the package included transport between Te Anau and Milford Sound, meals and overnight accommodation on the track, and launch transport at Milford Sound.

Mr Neilsen was reluctant to discuss reasons for the price rise, but he said a normal application was made to the Trade and Industry Department, which was “quite happy” with the reasons given. . Any further comment on the price increase Would

have to come from head office in Wellington. Independent trampers not using T.H.C. facilities on the track can still make the walk for $l2.

This charge would not rise as a result Qf the latest set of price increases, said the senior ranger of the Fiordland National Park at Te Anau, Mr J. Trotter. Extra charges were levied for transport to and from the track, he said. In spite of the 22.6 per cent increase in charges, Mr Neilsen expected a recent upsurge in bookings for Milford Track walkers to continue during the coming season.

For the season from last November 1 to March 31, the number of the walkers on the track rose 650 to 4150, compared with the previous season.

“I would expect a good season again next time round,” he said. “We have done a lot of marketing in the United States, Germany, and Japan, with extensive work on the North Island market.

“We had a 23 per cent increase in domestic tourists walking the track last season,” Mr Neilsen said. The season for independent walkers on the track will continue until Easter.