Project 3: A great walk from mounga to moana

The Great Walk being implemented across the mountain invites local and international visitors to undertake a once in a lifetime journey.

Huts, tracks and associated facilities will allow new audiences to discover overnight outdoor experiences. However, there will be a need to balance the international tourism appeal of a ‘Great Walk’ on the mountain, with matching benefits and availability of access for locals. Ensuring that the journey ‘around the mountain’ is the authentic local’s experience of the Mounga will lessen perceptions that international visitors on the Great Walk crossing is excluding locals from their connections to this special place.

Key outcomes:

1. Locals can access, take part in, share, and benefit from overnight walks in the National Park
2. Other sections of trail are maintained and have hut facilities to support the journey around the mountain narrative. These can provide cost-effective overnight experiences for locals
3. Visitors having completed the Great Walk can be invited to extend their experience and journey to one that also takes them ‘around the mountain’ whether by continuing walking, or by other modes of transport that bring them outside the National Park. The latter can include sites and experiences that support local communities and economic activity outside the National Park boundary