Tourism Waitaki hopes a project to upgrade infrastructure at the Oamaru blue penguin colony will be complete before the height of the next tourist season.
An increase in visitor numbers to the colony has led to the project, which involves extending the centre's reception area and other areas to better showcase the work that goes on at the colony using interactive displays.
The colony's research facilities will also be upgraded to cater for visiting international scientists. A culvert to allow penguins to cross under the road has also been discussed.
The project, to be funded by an internal council loan and Tourism Waitaki, is out for tender.
Tourism Waitaki general manager Jason Gaskill said he would like to see the project completed before next summer, when tourist numbers in Oamaru were at their highest.
The colony, owned by the Waitaki District Council and managed by Tourism Waitaki, is Oamaru's leading tourist attraction, drawing more than 75,000 visitors each year.
Mr Gaskill said 2015 was an exceptional year for visitor numbers at the colony.
"Visitor numbers are up on last year and last year was a really good year.''
While exact numbers were not available, he said that for the period between July and December last year, visitor numbers were up 13% on the same period in 2014, boding well for the future.
"We've seen a lot of interest and enthusiasm for what the colony has to offer ... we're quite excited about what that means for the future years.''
The increase in visitor numbers has led to the colony establishing a traffic management system to control people and traffic flow around the colony when penguins are coming ashore.
Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony research scientist Dr Philippa Agnew said about 150 birds were coming ashore daily, while about 120 breeding pairs and 70 chicks stayed put at the colony. Another 140 penguins had fledged so far.
At this time of year penguins could be found in "odd places'' looking in a "dishevelled state'', but that was normal.
Dr Agnew asked people to contact the colony if they had any penguin-related concerns.
Many people converge on Waterfront Rd each evening to catch a glimpse of the penguins, and Mr Gaskill said it was vital all parties were kept safe.
"People will go where people will go. We've employed what used to be volunteers - we've assisted them in the past but we made the decision in the middle of last year to employ them.
"Our interest is to keep traffic, people and penguins separate so traffic can move, people are safe and the penguins can move where they want to, cross the road where they want to and no behaviour impedes how they go about their natural activities.''
People were kept from getting too close to the birds or using flash photography when capturing images of the penguins.
"For the most part, things have been a lot smoother than previous years ... we probably need to tinker with things here and there, but we're reasonably comfortable with how things are going at the moment,'' Mr Gaskill said.
- By Daniel Birchfield
