Government personnel will travel on bus tours to police a new concessions system that is supposed to help stop freeloading tour operators profiting from public land.
Department of Conservation staff will travel incognito to catch errant operators identified by officials and by members of the bus and coach industry.
The bipartisan enforcement regime will reinforce the value of a permit system developed by Doc and the industry to streamline commercial access to the conservation estate.
The new system lets operators buy limited-use permits or full-year permits to take tours to nearly all Department of Conservation-administered land.
Previously, they had to apply for fixed-term, site-specific permits.
More than 550 permits were issued in the first month and a-half of the scheme, which is administered by the Bus and Coach Association of New Zealand.
Association chief executive Raewyn Bleakley said the new business and tourism-friendly system replaced an old one that was time-consuming and costly.
It also gave businesses the flexibility to respond to changing demands, replacing a system in which permits covered specific locations and times.
However, the industry's commitment to the scheme would have to be matched with effective enforcement, Ms Bleakley said.
"Understandably, our members who are part of the scheme will want Doc to enforce the concessions so that the value of the concessions is recognised," she said.
"Operators will inform Doc when they see coaches where they shouldn't be, but Doc will have to follow that up."
Doc spokesman Reuben Williams said officials would identify and track suspect tours, but that it did not have the resources to keep an eye on all tours, all the time.
Instead, it hoped the industry would provide some of the eyes and ears needed to ensure the scheme's success.
Complaints would be followed-up, and Doc staff would travel on suspect tours to catch operators in the act.
Mr Williams said staff had gone undercover before, but prosecutions were rare.
Instead, operators would be reminded of their responsibilities and encouraged to apply for a concession.
Doc wanted to be business friendly, but it also wanted to ensure that those businesses profiting from access to public land helped pay for its upkeep, he said.
