The visitors were on a Real Journeys tour and more than half of them had to be helicoptered out of the fiord.
More than 300mm of rain fell in the area yesterday, causing the slip on the 671m-high gravel road, which connects the West Arm of Lake Manapouri with the popular and remote tourist spot of Doubtful Sound.
Real Journeys corporate communications manager Tsehai Tiffin said tourists normally travelled by boat across Lake Manapouri to its West Arm, where they caught a bus to Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound.
But the slip, which was discovered on the Wilmot Pass about 12.30pm, meant the bus could not get back.
She said at the time of the slip, it was not known how big it was or how long it would take to clear the remote gravel road. Real Journeys used Te Anau-based Southern Lakes Helicopters to start transporting tourists from Deep Cove to the West Arm, where they caught the boat back to Manapouri.
Visitors were taken care of either on the Real Journeys day-cruise vessel (Patea Explorer) or at Deep Cove Hostel nearby, while they waited for their turn to fly.
A digger began working on the slip, which covered about 25m of road.
It took several hours to helicopter about 150 people out, before the slip was cleared and buses could resume transporting the remaining tourists back to the West Arm, she said.
All tourists were out by 9 o’clock last night.
A further road inspection would be conducted this morning, she said.
