Environment
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is launched a new online booking service on Monday (11th June) and invites those wishing to book onto a Great Walk to create their user accounts. Bookings for New Zealand’s nine Great Walks will open over the next two weeks for the 2018/19 season, starting with the Rakiura Track tomorrow (12 June).
“Registering in advance should simplify the booking process and give people a better chance of securing their preferred dates,” says DOC’s booking service manager Ross Shearer.
“Once customers have created their user profile, they can then manage their Great Walks bookings online which means being able to set-up, search, modify and cancel bookings. They will also be able to access the system via mobile devices.”
DOC has invested $3 million, from Budget ‘17 tourism funding, in the new booking service. The project is part of the Department’s work to improve the overall visitor experience including how people select and book activities.
“The booking service is more intuitive and quicker to use than the previous one. Importantly, our customers will receive safety information before embarking on their trips including an update about the current condition of their chosen track,” says Ross Shearer.
The service is hosted on Amazon Web Services, enabling more people to make bookings at the same time without the system slowing down or showing errors. This should make it easier for people trying to complete bookings in the first few hours of each walk opening, explains Ross Shearer.
“The opening today is phase one of the project, and we will be increasing the facilities covered by the booking service over the next two to three years. Ultimately, all DOC’s bookable facilities will move to the new service. We will be evaluating the performance of the system and customer satisfaction over the next year,” says Ross Shearer.
Sign up today or check when bookings open for each Great Walk by visiting doc.govt.nz/greatwalks