More than 100,000 people walked some or all of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing between October 2023 and April 2024. Such high numbers put pressure on the fragile environment, the cultural values of the area and its infrastructure. However, DOC says it’s too soon to implement a booking cap for next season.

In October last year, in a bid to understand visitor numbers in order to plan future improvements of the track including protection of the Tongariro area, DOC introduced a free booking system and encouraged visitors to book in advance.

Around 95,000 walkers used the system, of which almost 80 per cent were non-New Zealand residents.

By encouraging walkers to book during quieter times, DOC hopes to spread the load over more days to ease the pressure of track maintenance costs and toilet emptying.

A booking cap will be considered if annual walker numbers exceed 155,000, or if there are more than five daily spikes of over 2000 people on the track.