started a petition on Change.org<\/a> which has been signed by more than 9,500 people. Each time the petition is signed, an email is sent to Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson, who has the final decision on the project.<\/p>\nPatricia said the Milford Dart tunnel project was putting at risk New Zealand’s \u201c100% Pure\u201d brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting a bus tunnel through this world heritage area is akin to building a chairlift to the top of Ayers Rock or putting a parking lot on top of the Great Barrier Reef,\u201d said Patricia, who lives in Glenorchy, the town known as \u201cThe Gateway To Paradise\u201d and for its amazing backdrops used in the Lord of the Rings, Hobbit and Narnia films.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can’t believe that the government might jeopardise New Zealand’s most valuable and precious natural tourist destination, and destroy our communities at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patricia has been joined by a number of tourism operators in condemning the project.<\/p>\n
Vladka Kennet, owner-operator of inbound travel company True Travel, said the tunnel would \u201cimmensely and irreversibly affect the whole purpose, idea and success of the tourism industry in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of my clients come to New Zealand to experience the pure, almost untouched natural environment that the area has to offer,\u201d said Vladka.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the solitude, tranquillity, the end of the road destination, remoteness and the feeling of being one with the land \u2013 physically and spiritually. My clients also appreciate that the people of New Zealand treasure their natural heritage and have campaigned vigorously in the past to prevent similar ventures from going ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dart Stables owner Jenny Davies said: \u201cWe are reminded almost daily by our clients how fortunate we are to live, work and operate in such a stunning, unspoilt part of the world. People are genuinely blown away by the area\u2019s beauty, tranquility and the extent of wilderness on our doorstep. The tunnel project is so inappropriate on so many levels it is hard to believe it has received serious consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Norris, whose business Trips ‘n’ Tramps offers guided tours of Fiordland National Park, Milford Sound and Te Anau, said the impact of the tunnel would be \u201chugely negative\u201d.<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s Department of Conservation has given notice of intention to grant permission for the tunnel, but the final decision rests with Conservation Minister Wilkinson, who has admitted the topic is \u201cvery controversial\u201d.<\/p>\n
For more information on Change.org, please visit:
http:\/\/www.change.org\/about<\/a>
Change.org is the world\u2019s fastest-growing platform for social change \u2014 growing by one million new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tourism operators fear private bus tunnel will ruin Fiordland World Heritage area; more than 9,500 sign Change.org petition demanding project be scrapped New Zealand tourism operators fear one of the world\u2019s last great wilderness destinations, the World Heritage Fiordland national park, will be ruined by the construction of an underground bus tunnel through the area. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}