Stage three – business plan creation and implementation – of the Milford Opportunities Project is facing a three to five-month slow down as it tries to find a director to lead this next phase.
Project governance group chair Dr Keith Turner says the team had been searching for a suitable director for the past five months, and had got close to appointing a leader for the next phase twice.
“Unfortunately the talks did not progress into a final agreement and so we are still looking. I am a bit frustrated as I had wanted to hit the ground running at the beginning of this year,” Dr Turner says.
“However, it is crucial we have the right person in the position so we are continuing the search.”
This means the project cannot progress on the major business cases at the pace wanted until a director is appointed.
“I know this will not be the news people in Fiordland and in particular the tourism operators are wanting to hear as I know they are really keen for more certainty on the project and for it to move forward quickly,” he says.
The Milford Opportunities Project’s masterplan was launched in Te Anau in July last year. It makes recommendations to Government and stage three is about detailed business plans on how the recommendations will become reality being created.
“We were asked to come up with something innovative, something challenging, something that will change the way tourism interacts with environment and conservation. I feel we have done that and now the hard work of implementation and decision-making on how to implement it begins,” Dr Turner said at the launch.
The project began in 2017, after concerns about the rapidly growing visitor numbers in Milford Sound Piopiotahi were raised by Southland District Council and the Department of Conservation. Numbers peaked at 870,000 visitors in 2019, up from 430,000 in 2013.
