Paid parking will be trialled at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast, and the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park next summer to help ease visitor pressures and support conservation.

Heritage & visitors director Catherine Wilson told RNZ's Morning Report on Thursday she was not worried about the introduction of charges and people were "generally" use to paying for car parking.

"I think in every big city or every metropolis people have been paying for parking for a long-time, this isn't a new concept."

Wilson said internationally paid parking was common at national parks and many visitors were "surprised" DOC was not charging.

"A lot of visitors to these sites are international visitors and you know, what we have heard from many is that they are surprised we are not doing it already.

"We think we are coming into line with places like Canada, Australia, Japan and the US," Wilson said.

The 12-month paid parking trial is funded by $3.8 million from the international visitor levy which Wilson said would be spent on expanding the carparks, installing parking technology and wages for employees who will be at the parks supporting the transition.

The pilot was in the planning phase and no decisions had been made about pricing or charging, she said.

The findings from the 2025/26 summer pilot would inform how and where the department might charge for carparks in the future.