Closing the Milford road from the eastern entrance of the Homer Tunnel for up to two weeks starting yesterday should not affect tourism, despite Queen's Birthday Weekend falling in the middle of the closure.
Operators in Milford and Te Anau were briefed by the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) about the closure in advance and operators were aware of the need to get unstable rock removed now and not in the middle of the peak summer tourism season, Southland NZTA area manager Peter Robinson said.
''If we did not remove it now we cannot guarantee access to Milford through any part of the winter.''
NZTA traffic counts at the Homer Tunnel for the past six years revealed there were no spikes in June, including on Queen's Birthday Weekend.
The agency did not have provision for compensation for those affected by the closure.
Weather-related road closures were not unusual from the end of June, Mr Robinson said.
Real Journeys chief executive Richard Lauder said now was the quietest time of year for international tourists, who made up 90% of visitors to Milford Sound, and so the best time for the Milford road to be closed for an extended period.
''Typically, we're getting 600 to 700 visitors to Milford a day compared to up to 4000 in the height of summer, so even with the long weekend coming up, we're not talking about the sort of volumes that have already been affected by the road closures right through summer.''
Real Journeys endorsed the closure because a safe and secure road was needed to give the whole tourism industry more certainty, Mr Lauder said.
''Certainly the 19 road closures since October 1 last year have had a significant impact on our business.
''The equivalent period last year there were zero road closures, so this unstable bit of rock has already caused us a lot of grief and lost revenue.''
