By RNZ With premier Great Walk the Milford Track opening for summer bookings on Tuesday morning at 9.30, will DoC’s tech issues return? Trampers desperate to book a spot on one of the country’s Great Walks this summer fear the Department of Conservation’s booking system will again crash due to demand. The system has been plagued by crashes in recent years, with spots on the trails selling out fast.
But DoC has provided assurances that last year’s issues will not be repeated. New Zealand’s 10 Great Walks are the country’s premier and most popular tramping tracks. Every year thousands of people from New Zealand and abroad try to secure a space on one of the tracks.
The booking site crashed last year when 10,000 people simultaneously tried to book the Milford Track when it went on sale. The site came back online shortly after and the 7500 spaces sold out within hours, leaving thousands disappointed and without a spot. Frustrated trampers took to social media with complaints of missing out after a similar crash occurred in 2021.
Federated Mountain Clubs president Megan DiMozantos said she was not confident DoC would get it right this year. A lot of time and money went into planning Great Walk hikes and bookings should be allocated on a “Kiwi-first” basis, so people did not miss out, she said. “We believe .
.. New Zealanders should get first dibs on the Great Walk bookings once they open, before they’re opened to internationals and to commercial,” she said.
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