ProGuides New Zealand is well into its 10th year

Press Release
ProGuides NZ
03 OCT 2012

ProGuides New Zealand, the professional association of tour guides in New Zealand, is well into its 10th year. Vera Huehn, ProGuides Chairperson is pleased with the growth in ProGuides membership, which currently stands at 150 members. With the new tour guiding season under way, Mrs Huehn hopes for a positive season ahead.

ProGuides also states it is time for the government to urgently address the issue of a universal “green” or “tourism” levy to capture a financial contribution to the conservation estate by all parties in the tourism industry. Often tourists and overseas agents ask what they need to pay so it wouldn’t fall as a huge burden on the tourist purse.

The current ‘levy’ regime operated by the government is through Dept of Conservation. DOC is selective towards identifiable operators in the tourism industry whilst leaving rental vehicle and campervan companies suppliers, free independent travelers and other forms of group travel, free to enter and leave public conservation land without levy. This needs to change, says Mrs Huehn, as it is highly imbalanced, confusing and current legislation an administrational nightmare.

Mrs Huehn says she expects the new PGNZ / Dept of Conservation (DOC) Guiding Concession will help reinforce the need for professional tour guiding activities and members’ commercial contribution to upkeep of conservation in New Zealand. Mrs Huehn says she would like to think the concession, which legalizes tour guiding activities on public conservation land, along with more extensive monitoring by DOC, will also help tidy up illegal vehicle and guiding operations. Too often members identify escorted overseas visitors in uncertified vehicles driven by driver/ guides without the required work visa or passenger vehicle licenses, says Mrs Huehn.

www.proguides.co.nz

ENDS

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