Milford Opportunities Project is facing a three to five-month slow down after struggling to find a director to lead their business planning phase. 

This third phase of the project has received $15 million of government funding, on top of over $3 million previously granted. 

The position of director has been advertised nationally with a recruitment agency, and applications were received from around the country, but a successful appointment has not been made. 

Project governance group chair Dr Keith Turner said the team had been searching for a suitable director for the past five months and had gotten close to appointing a leader for the next phase twice.

“Unfortunately, the talks did not progress into a final agreement and so we are still looking. I am a bit frustrated as I had wanted to hit the ground running at the beginning of this year.” 

“However, it is crucial we have the right person in the position, so we are continuing the search.”

Milford Opportunities Project says this means they cannot progress on the major business cases at the pace wanted until a director is appointed.

Turner says he knows this is not the news people in Fiordland, in particular the tourism operators, are wanting to hear as they are eager for progress and certainty around the project. 

The Milford Opportunities Project’s masterplan was launched in Te Anau in July last year and makes recommendations to Government. 

Stage three – where the project has now stalled – is focus in creating detailed business plans on how the recommendations will become reality.

Turner says the hard work is yet to come. 

“We were asked to come up with something innovative, something challenging, something that will change the way tourism interacts with environment and conservation. I feel we have done that and now the hard work of implementation and decision-making on how to implement it begins.” 

The project began in 2017, after concerns about the rapidly growing visitor numbers in Milford Sound Piopiotahi were raised by Southland District Council and the Department of Conservation.

Numbers peaked at 870,000 visitors in 2019, up from 430,000 in 2013.