Regional Spotlight - Coromandel Cathedral Cove. Photo: Supplied
As the effects of climate change become more severe, New Zealand's tourism sector is questioning the future of its most valuable asset - the environment.
Cathedral Cove, one of the North Island's most iconic beaches, was so badly damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle that it remained closed for almost two years before reopening in December.
The Department of Conservation said it was yet another casualty of climate change, with many more to come.
"It's really concerning and it is something we're seeing a lot more of. It wasn't just Cathedral Cove that was impacted by the storms, we've had quite severe damage right across the North Island," heritage and visitors director Cat Wilson said.
"The year before that, in 2022, we also had the Heaphy Bridge in one of our other great walks wiped out in a big storm as well."
As these events became more common, Wilson said Aotearoa's tourism market could suffer.
"Over half of all international visitors, and 80 percent of New Zealanders, come and visit our stunning landscapes and protected areas every year, so that's quite a big part of the tourism market," she said.
"We estimate those interactions with conservation-related tourism are probably worth around $4.3 billion per annum."
Climate change was top of mind for EcoZip Adventures managing director Gavin Oliver.
With ziplining courses at two locations, one on Waiheke Island and the other in Kaikōura, Oliver said he was conscious of the business impacts of climate change.
"Both are beautiful environments, and so part of what we do is... Yes, there's a lot of fun in ziplining but there's also an educative piece to what we do which is around helping our international and domestic visitors understand why New Zealand's natural environment is important to them and how to protect it," he said.
Oliver said conservation was part of his strategy.
"The original idea behind the business was 'how do we form a commercial organisation that can fund conservation outcomes?' Ziplines became the vehicle to do that," he said.
"So there's a lovely symbiotic relationship between manuhiri, our visitors, and the natural environment and the restoration of it. The two things don't need to be mutually exclusive."
Oliver planned to build a native tree nursery at his Kaikōura site, which he claimed would be capable of producing 50,000 native trees a year.
Cat Wilson said the Department of Conservation was having some difficult conversations as the realities of climate change made themselves known.
"We're having to think a lot more carefully about where we build back, so where we know there's been damage in the past we're really thinking carefully about what the infrastructure looks like that we put back in," she said.
"Are we putting it in the right place? Is it going to be resilient in the future?"
Not everything would survive, she admitted.
"I think in the long term it will mean we can't build back to everything," she said.
"And a lot of people are coming to New Zealand because they want to experience our wildlife, and we know particularly our threatened and endangered species also get hit hard when there are severe weather events."
