Boatloads head south from Bluff and Port Chalmers over the summer to explore the Campbell and Auckland Islands.
The Department of Conservation (Doc) has asked for submissions on a plan change for the Subantarctic Islands.
Doc acts as the regional council for the islands and said commercial operators were keen to visit the Subantarctic Islands and rules would be put in place to control tourists and operators.
At the same time it had undertaken a review of entry permits and fees to the Subantarctic Islands, taking on many of the recommendations of operators.
Doc regulatory systems performance director Siobhan Quayle said the concession activity for the Subantarctic Islands had not been reviewed since 2015. The review found the fee was well below market value. It was to be raised from $30 in 2024/25 to $171 in 2027/28.
The visitor impact management fee had not been reviewed since 2014 and was to increase from $405 in 2024/25 to $1056 to 2027/28.
The increase would be phased in over three years.
Heritage Expeditions commercial director and expedition leader Aaron Russ said he was not opposed to an appropriate fee increase, but it should be clearly justified and supported with evidence.
He said the rise should have been on a timeline that matched the travel cycles of guests’ voyages to the islands.
The increases would have a significant impact.
"Some operators are considering not deploying their ships to the region as a result of the fee increases, and the ongoing uncertainty around cost structures," he said.
"The fees that have been announced are among the most, if not the most, expensive visitor fee in the world, and visitors always have choices about where they travel."
There should have been more consultation on the increase and the phasing in of the fees but that was not part of the Doc process, Mr Russ said.
Heritage Expeditions had eight trips to the Subantarctic region this summer, all leaving from Bluff.
Port Otago customer general manager Craig Usher said earlier this week the port had 11 boats leaving Port Chalmers this summer, heading south. They were operated by foreign-owned tourist companies such as Ponant and National Geographic.
He said they were high-end tourists who were willing to pay for the experience, but people only had so much tolerance.
The country had to make sure it did not price itself out of the market, he said.
Many ships left Chile and Argentina to visit the Antarctic Peninsula, he said.
The plan change will allow cruise ship operators of vessels longer than 125m to apply for a resource consent, or coastal permit, to access Perseverance Harbour on Campbell Island.
"Currently, visitors sometimes access the harbour in ancillary craft from cruise ships anchored outside the harbour, which is risky given the length of the harbour and the changeable weather conditions. Cruise ships’ navigational tools have improved vastly in recent years, making it safer to access and navigate the harbour."
Applications would be assessed on a case-by-case basis and would include specialist navigation safety input.
Permits would include specific conditions, and the applicant can then access a tourist landing site at the head of the harbour. A concession would still be required to land visitors.
Ms Quayle said commercial operators were keen to access the Subantarctic Islands.
"However, these aren’t very large cruise ships — they are the expedition-style cruise ships that generally don’t exceed more than 200 passengers, and we have strict limits around how many visitors can access the islands’ landing sites daily and over the course of a year."
