Caving in New Zealand is an established hobby as well as being a part of commercial tourism. Recreational caving is practised by several hundred members of caving associations all over New Zealand, who take advantage of the widespread limestone karst cave systems present in the country, especially in the Waitomo District of the North Island and in the Nelson-Tasman region of the South Island. There are also several hundred thousands of visitors to various tourist caves in New Zealand per year, though a majority of these trips would not properly be called caving.