Stewart Island levy update

Southland District Council is progressing with plans for the administration of the Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy and will be working with key stakeholders, the Community Board and the Stewart Island community to put a transparent and robust system in place. 

Policy and Planning Manager Susan Cuthbert said that Council is looking at a number of options for collecting the levy.

"Council is now at the stage of making the levy a reality. While the legislation empowers the Council to set a levy by creating a bylaw, there are a number of issues that need to be worked through in order to develop a levy system that works well in practice," Ms Cuthbert said.

The Southland District Council (Stewart Island/Rakiura Visitor Levy) Empowerment Act 2012 was passed into law on 26 March 2012 and empowers Southland District Council to set and collect levies from passengers travelling to and from Stewart Island. The visitor levy will help fund the infrastructure used on the Island by the thousands of short-term international and domestic tourists that visit every year.

"Council will be working closely with stakeholders including cruise ship, ferry and air flight operators and the Stewart Island Community Board to develop a discussion document which looks at how Council proposes to set, collect and allocate the levy," Ms Cuthbert said.

The discussion document is planned to go out for public consultation in July.