SUMMER CRUISES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1937, Page 9

SUMMER CRUISES.

FIVE PUNNED THIS YEAR. ADVERTISING DOMINION. The increasing popularity of the short j summer cruises from Australia to New j Zealand, which were inaugurated by the I Peninsula and Oriental Line steamers in j 1933-34, since when between 15,000 and 16,000 persons have visited New Zealand, may be gauged by the fact that | this snmmer five regular service vessels will visit Auckland. The schedule of | the arrivals of these vessels is:—Orion, October 27; Strathmore, November 19; Strathnaver. December 17; Orford, December 23; Oronsay, February 4,1938. In the past the practice with many passengers has been to leave the vessels in Auckland and rejoin in Wellington. This year the Tourist Department has found it absolutely necessary, in order to prevent the to ;rivnce of delays in Auckland, to s?':d three or four booking officers to Sydney to join the cruise ships there in order that all the booking arrangements may be completed before the sh-pt arrive in Autk'snd, and communication established by radio to arrange for the necessary transport in jNew Zealand j The main attraction in the overland | route is Roterua, which nearly all the tourists express the desire to visit. On one occasion officers of the Tourist Department organised a tour omitting Rotorua aad not one booking was received. Unquestionably, apart from other advantages, these tours are an excellent advertising a-edium for the scenic attractions of the Dominion and many of the passengers who have made the short cruise here return at later * dates for longer periods.