“Visitors are also strongly urged not to go through the cove’s famous arch, with debris falling from the arch to the sand below as recently as last weekend,” said DOC’s Hauraki-Waikato-Taranaki regional director Tinaka Mearns.

The news was not well received by Go Kiwi Shuttles director Gary Fitzsimons, who said he’d lose 40% of his business and felt DOC was “basically turning tourism off in the Coromandel”.

“It’s devastating, it will affect the whole Coromandel. We have had three bad years and this is now year four, and will probably be the worst of them all.

“It’s another nail in the coffin and DOC should be trying harder to reopen it.”

Mearns said while DOC had not ruled out re-opening the track or building a new one, it would be another six to 12 months before a final decision would be made.

She said an independent report by engineering firm Tonkin & Taylor confirmed the risk of potentially harmful rockfall and landslides at Cathedral Cove.

“Across the 3.8km of tracks around Cathedral Cove and the adjacent bays, 180 historical or recent landslides were identified.

“Beach cliffs, including those overlooking Cathedral Cove were described as ‘particularly hazardous’ due to ongoing landslides and rockfall.”

Beach access by the water will resume within the next few weeks, says DOC’s Hauraki-Waikato-Taranaki regional director Tinaka Mearns. Kelly Hodel / Waikato Times.

However, Mearns said within the next few weeks visitors would be able to return to the beach by water, but warned visitors, “you go at your own risk”.

“Renewing access to Cathedral Cove from the sea allows people to go there – but we want to make very clear there is still risk associated with going to this site and people need to inform themselves properly before visiting.

“There is still potential for rockfall landslides at these sites, and we need to emphasise this to the public.”

Cathedral Cove Cruises owner Ken Hindmarsh said the decision was not unexpected and felt the track would not be open for at least the next few years, if at all.

“I’ll probably have to put on a fairly budget short trip, but I haven’t really had a chance to think about it.”

Hindmarsh said he knew the track was badly broken and was “almost at the stage of giving up on them having it fixed”.

“There’s going to be a few pretty upset businesses.

“Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach are the two things people come up here to visit.”

Fitzsimons, of Go Kiwi Shuttles, said with the international market basically gone and State Highway 25A still closed “it’s just going to get worse”.

“To me, it’s just down to dollars, there’s no plan except to say it’s not open this year.

“We will have to try to survive - it’s 40% of our business that’s now just disappeared ... I’m still processing it all.”

Mearns said any potential fix by DOC could suffer the same fate as the original track.

“We need to make sensible long-term investments at this site, rather than spend money on short-term solutions which are not sustainable and will not withstand the increasing extreme weather events caused by climate change.”

Thames-Coromandel district mayor Len Salt said it was not the news they were hoping for, “but we have to start from a place of safety”.

He said the region had received 4.67m of rain since the start of January and the land was still heavily saturated.

“I’ve spoken to DOC and am prepared to take their advice for safety reasons ... Nobody is happy about it but we don’t want the safety of people to be compromised.

“At least now we have some clarity.”

Salt said he would be discussing the impact the closure would have on local businesses with Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni at an upcoming visit.