Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park recorded more than one million visitors for the year-ending January 2019. (File photo)

As the country grapples with the effects of Covid-19 on tourism post-lockdown, there are calls for a serious rethink of how the industry operates, including a cap on numbers.

Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board member Dr Robert Wynn-Williams has proposed a cap on future visitor numbers - his proposal will be discussed at the board's next meeting on Wednesday which will be held via teleconference due to restrictions of movement in the current lockdown environment.

Wynn-Williams, a former acting chairman of the board, said the time was right to discuss the future of tourism in New Zealand given that the lockdown meant "tourism is currently at zero".

"There's going to be a lot of pain in the tourism industry even after the lockdown lifts, we just don't know what tourism will look like in the future," he said.

Conservation Boards are independent bodies that provide a voice for local concerns to gain traction in Department of Conservation work, and on a national level where required.

Wynn-Williams said he was not sure how the capping mechanisms could operate, although he believed there were lessons to learn from countries such as Bhutan which take a "high value, low impact" approach to tourism which could potentially place less pressure on the environment if adopted here.

"I think with the current climate, it is a really opportune time to discuss this," he said.

In the 12 month period-ending January 31, 2019, Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park recorded more than one million visitors.

The figures for the 12-month period-ending January 31, 2020 are yet to be released.

Wynn-Williams said he would like to see the pressure taken off places such as Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park in the future.

"We've got to look at how much they can actually sustain," he said.

GEORGE HEARD/STUFF Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board member Robert Wynn-Williams suggests some form of cap on visitor numbers could be considered. (File photo)

Federated Mountain Clubs president Jan Finlayson agreed there needed to be a rethink of how the tourism industry would work post-Covid-19.

The organisation, which has more than 22,000 members, had already approached the Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis about their concerns, including how future tourism infrastructure would be developed.

"We are fully supportive of the concept of ramped-up recreational, infrastructural work on public conservation land and other such land as part of post-Covid recovery," Finlayson said.

"Done well, it will benefit health and nationhood, as well as the economy."

The Government announced earlier this month that it had put Tourism New Zealand in charge of leading work to reimagine the way tourism operates in post-Covid-19 world.

Advice back to Davis is expected to arrive before the end of the month.

JOHN BISSET/FAIRFAXNZ The popular Church of the Good Shepherd at Lake Tekapo was one of the many attractions that tourists flocked to in large numbers before Covid-19. (File photo)

Finlayson said there was the chance for the tourism industry to look at a "quieter, slower, and less throwaway approach".

"It is also a chance for New Zealand to reset international tourism as an industry with a light touch environmentally and socially," she said.

However, she also warned that capping numbers could lead to "all sorts of unintended consequences" such as shutting out New Zealanders from their own backyard.

"National parks in particular belong to all New Zealanders," Finlayson said.

"We do not want to turn it into a 'haves' and 'have nots' situation. There needs to be a more nuanced approach."

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