Bookings for the Routeburn and Kepler tracks, and others, for the 2023-’24 Great Walk season won’t open until Department of Conservation’s confident kinks have been ironed out of its system.
In April, Great Walks bookings were halted after 10,000 people logged in to book the Milford Track, crashing the system for about an hour.
Despite the issues, the 7500 spots for the next season were snapped up by noon the day they opened.
While bookings for the Routeburn, Kepler, Abel Tasman Coast Track, Rakiura Track and Whanganui Journey were meant to open on April 26, they were all postponed due to ongoing technical issues.
Heritage and visitors director Cat Wilson says the results from independent testing are expected ‘‘in the second week of June’’ and will help inform the best dates to open remaining bookings.
‘‘The system fix has been tested extensively by our provider, and additional load testing will be done by the independent specialist.
“We are taking the time to do further testing to give us extra assurance ahead of the Great Walks bookings openings.’’
A further update’s expected on June 14 — bookings are likely to open in July.
