Mr Cadogan said his region was being swamped by an influx of camper vans containing tourists who provided little return, and the district’s already struggling residents had to cover the cost through their rates.
He again called on the Government to introduce a levy on tourists when they enter the country to help pay for the infrastructure they required.
A group of Otago and Southland mayors called for a levy last month.
Mr Cadogan was responding to the latest Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) tourism spending figures.
They showed Clutha recorded remarkable growth last month, and in the last year.
The figures reported a 25% jump in tourism revenue for May, with $5 million of spending.
For the year to May, the increase was 15%, resulting in a $68 million spend.
That compared with 4.4% annual growth recorded for the year to December last year, and a 0.4% drop in the 12 months to September.
On monthly percentage figures, Clutha was only topped by Whanganui on 28%.
Wanaka again recorded the highest annual growth of 18%, with Fiordland not far behind on 16%.
The spends for those regions were much higher, at $497 million and $235 million respectively.
Mr Cadogan said the figures from the MBIE needed to kept in perspective.
The industry in Clutha was "so fledgling" it was easy to get variance in the data. "I actually question the data."
In response, MBIE acting manager of sector trends Mark Gordon said the estimates were based on electronic card transaction data.
They were aggregated to national totals using data from MBIE and Statistics New Zealand.For Clutha, the latest results showed an increase in the spend, but from a very low base.
The largest spend was fuel and other automotive products. MBIE had confidence in the figures.
Mr Cadogan said there had been an increase in numbers this year, but the relatively small number of tourism operators in the region were asking "how do we make them stay, and how do we make them pay?".
The Clutha region mostly attracted free, independent travellers, Mr Cadogan said.
"The trick is, and we’re hearing this time and again, if they discipline themselves down through our area, and spend frugally, they can have a blast when they get to Queenstown."
The visitors spent money on petrol and "a bit on food", but the region was not making money from them.
Mr Cadogan said he went to his favourite paua spot recently, and found 37 camper vans parked there.
"The cost to them that night was nothing."
The district had supported tourism by converting roads from gravel to tarseal, at a cost to ratepayers but the district was not benefiting financially from the spending.
Clutha ratepayers had to pay for the third-longest roading network in New Zealand, and extra government funding for tourism infrastructure announced in May was "dollar-for-dollar".
"Where do we get our dollar from?"
Clutha Development district marketing manager Kelsey Harrison said the "hot spots" in the region were Nugget Point, Purakaunui Falls, McLean Falls and Cathedral Caves.
Inland, the Clutha Gold cycle trail showed consistently growing numbers.
The strengths of the area were its offering of "the original Kiwi experience".
Ms Harrison said growth lined up with the organisation’s recent annual business confidence survey, in which operators indicated an increase in sales turnover compared with the previous year. She said more people were "definitely" coming to the region.
