Milford Sound, South Island
The tourist attraction's spatial significance, some patterns, interrelationships and a geographic perspective.
Spatial Significance
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Milford Sound is located within the South Island of New Zealand. It is found in the UNESCO heritage site of Fiordland National Park, of which it's the most northernly fiord in the southwest edge of the park.
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This 25 square kilometres of natural beauty is filled with waterfalls, wildlife, mountains and a crystal clear lake. This wonderful fiord is excellent for kayakers, nature lovers, divers, hikers and bikers.
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This site is a UNESCO heritage site, which stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. They are dedicated to protecting animals and landscapes around the world. At Milford Sounds, they are devoted to protecting animals such as the seals, penguins and dolphins within the site protected (Milford Sound, n.d.).
(Southern discoveries, n.d.)
Patterns and Trends
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Many of the major natural tourist sites of New Zealand are near major bodies of water and many are formed by glaciers, like Milford Sound.Many of them are also natural wonders.
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These characteristics are not normally repeated over time, only in certain countries like New Zealand, Iceland and Canada.
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Characteristics are sometimes repeated over time because humans are naturally drawn to natural features and amazing architecture.
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These characteristics are repeated
because they are all natural wonders. The fiords, lakes and oceans all draw tourists because of their sense of adventure and peace (Hastings, 2019).
(shirophoto, 2013)
Interrelationships
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Two famous features of Milford Sounds is Seals Rock.
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Seals Rock is a single, medium sized rock that draws 25+ New Zealand Seals. Seals flock to this site because its one of the lowest laying rocks in Milford Sounds. They enjoy climbing aboard and sunbathing. This is a interrelationship between animals and a natural feature.
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This rock draws tourists from all over New Zealand to see these large beasts. It is one of the best locations to encounter these seals in the world (Milford Sounds, 2017).
(Ken, n.d.)
Geographic Perspective
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Environmental: Many cruise ships go through Milford Sounds, potentially animals .
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Economic: Close to 1 million people visit Milford Sound each year, bringing in a large amount of money to the community.
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Political: Although the site isn't owned by the government, they invest large amounts of money into the conservation projects in the area.
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Social: 120 people live in the vicinity. They work in tourism and conservation (Alves, 2018).
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Environmentalists- the land and animals should be protected at all costs.
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Owners of cruises- Milford Sounds is a great opportunity to make money, but the animals should be protected.
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Government- Milford Sounds draws in large amounts of income, so the site must be preserved.
(touropia.com, 2021)
Total Visitors to Milford Sound
The graph demonstrates the slight growth in the number of visitors to Milford Sound. It also seems to drop around April to October every year
which makes sense, since it's their cold season,
Every year, there is a sort of U in the bar graph. The height of the tourism industry in Milford is during Jan, then it slowly drops during February and March. During April and May, it drops dramatically. The year's low is during June, July, August and September. Finally, during October, November and December, the number of tourist begin to rise quickly, to nearly the same amount as during January. Some short-term impacts of this is that those who are in the tourism industry in Milford will only make the fraction fo the amount they would make in January.
