Come Sunday, the Department of Conservation will no longer have its Nelson visitor centre at Millers Acre, much to the disappointment of the city’s mayor.
Visitor centre operations are now set to move out of the central city hub to the department’s existing office in Albion Square, off Bridge Street.
DOC’s northern South Island regional director, Martin Rodd, said the shift was driven by changing visitor behaviour.
“We’ve been seeing fewer and fewer people visiting in person each year. Increasingly, people are going to the DOC website for information and booking their experiences online or seeking advice by email or over the phone.”
Since July 2025, visitor centre staff have had more than 31,800 interactions with the public, but just 17%, or 5630, were face-to-face.
Interactions don’t differentiate between groups and individuals, while those who visit but do not talk with staff are also not recorded, meaning there were more than 5630 visitors to the centre.
About one-third of the in-person queries were for activities unrelated to DOC, such as accommodation or tours.
In comparison to in-person interactions, staff had almost double the number of phone interactions and almost triple the number of email interactions during that same period.
“Given the relatively small and decreasing proportion of face-to-face visitors, it no longer makes sense for us to rent a separate building,” Martin said.
He did not think that moving the centre would impact visitors, as “comprehensive information” was available on DOC’s website and staff would still be available, just at a different location.
“Over the past few years, we have seen more people accessing information digitally and, at the same time, we have improved our online booking and permit systems, making it easier for people to interact with DOC and get the information they need.”
While DOC’s lease ends in September, staff were being moved now so they were settled before May, when bookings open for the Great Walks, and bookable huts and campsites – a “major focus” for visitor centre staff.
But Nelson Mayor Nick Smith disagreed, saying during Nelson City Council’s Thursday meeting that the closure was “shortsighted” and would be detrimental to the region’s economy.
“Our visitor industry… is absolutely pivotal to both the economic recovery but also the long-term future of the region."
He had been engaging with DOC for “some months” to keep the centre open, but was unaware that its last day operating was Saturday until approached by Local Democracy Reporting on Thursday afternoon.
Nick said it was important to promote tourism during the shoulder seasons, so the Easter holiday weekend closure was “less than ideal” but ultimately was not his key concern.
“The main issue for me is that it’s closing at all.”
While acknowledging the changing way information services are provided and the “real funding pressure” on DOC, he still placed a high importance on having a people-facing visitor service.
His mayor’s report on the topic indicated that he had received “huge positive feedback” about the current visitor centre and described DOC’s Albion Square office as a “poor substitute”.
“It is not in the central city, has no street frontage, little pedestrian traffic and is not in an area frequented by visitors.”
Over the last financial year, the council has invested $4 million into Millers Acre, which was the site of the new central city bus hub, where local public transport and interregional buses mix, as well as the future home of Nelson’s arts hub.
“Nelson’s ambition is to market our city for its arts, nature, and outdoor recreation, and the co-location of these services at Millers Acre was a crucial vehicle for doing so,” Nick’s report read.
The closure of the centre appeared to be a “contradiction” between the centre’s closure and the Government’s identification of tourism as a key area of economic recovery, he said.
Nelson’s guest nights lag 13% behind the national average of 98% compared to pre-Covid levels.
Nick added that it would not be financially viable for the council to have its own visitor centre unless it received Government support.
The council agreed on Thursday that Smith would write to the Ministers of Conservation and Tourism, requesting that DOC remain at Millers Acre and engage with the council on how a visitor centre could be retained.
