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Govt to hold meeting with mayors over freedom camping

Author
NewstalK ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Thu, 1 Feb 2018, 6:43am
Freedom camping has become a problem in many city centres. (Photo / NZ Herald)

Govt to hold meeting with mayors over freedom camping

Author
NewstalK ZB Staff,
Publish Date
Thu, 1 Feb 2018, 6:43am

The Tourism Minister is moving to tackle problems associated with freedom camping.

Kelvin Davis has called a meeting with 22 mayors from districts across the country after hearing dissatisfaction with the current situation.

However, President of All Points Camping Gary Stoneley told Kate Hawkesby that there has been so much negative publicity around the camping style, that it's tarnishing the reputation of those who contribute to our economy.

"In reality, freedom camping is anybody who basically uses council areas for camping. They can be New Zealand families, they don't have to be tourists, and there seems to be a lot of misconception going on."

He said that it is wrong to try and blame the problem on tourists.

"What we can't do is we can't say we are blaming a certain person who actually camps in a certain type of way. What we need to do is acknowledge there is a huge amount of revenue coming from these people and we do need to have facilities to cater for them."

Davis said that there are complaints relating to noise, litter, human waste, overcrowding and blocked access to public spaces.

"We just want to talk to local councils and find out from them exactly what they think we need to do about it. Because tourism means so much to the economy, we don't want to drive tourists away but have to be able to manage the situation so the communities don't get fed up with tourism."

LISTEN TO GARY STONELEY TALK WITH KATE HAWKESBY ABOVE

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