TOURIST SEASON

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21470, 11 May 1935, Page 14

TOURIST SEASON

DEFINITE IMPROVEMENT NOTED REASONS FOR INCREASE IN TRAVELLING That there has been a steady and very definite improvement in the amount of tourist traffic during the last summer season was the statement made yesterday by officials of the Christchurch Tourist Bureau and of Messrs Thomas Cook and Son, Ltd. The increase is shown by the bookings not only of visitors from overseas but also of local people. It was also stated that the prospects for the coming year were very encouraging. The bookings l'or most visitors from abroad were made in the North Island, said Mr R. W. Coupland, manager of the Tourist Bureau, but even in the South Island there had been a noticeable increase. Business had been from 15 to 20 per cent, better than in the previous year, and the consistency of the increase seemed to indicate that the improvement would be maintained. The season had been definitely the best in the last four years. Many reasons might be advanced for this. The exchange rate so favoured anglers from England that it was almost cheaper for them to come to New Zealand for their sport than to lease expensive waters in the United Kingdom. For the same reason of the exchange and of the general economic depression some people who normally would have travelled from New Zealand before this had waited, hoping for a lowering of the rate and improved financial conditions. Seeing no prospect of the former they had 1 decided to go abroad without further delay. Again, local people were going farther afield, a sign of better conditions. Officials in the North Island had referred also to the pleasure cruises and the presence in London of a keen, well-trained member of the department supplying prospective tourists with all possible information, as strong factors. Jubilee Celebrations An official of Cook's reported aj good season both in overseas and local traffic. The jubilee celebra- j tions had taken many to England earlier than they would have gone for the ordinary summer season there. It .was therefore possible that there would now be a slackening off in the number of bookings—the season usually extended to June—but the figures nevertheless showed a definite improvement over 1934. Enquiries were already being made for 1936, the majority being for the superior grades of accommodation. It was remarked elsewhere that the number of Australian visitors was perhaps not as great as might

be expected in normal circumstances, the centenary celebrations attracting many to Melbourne who would otherwise have come to New Zealand. Another reason advanced for the decision to travel on the part of some people was their fear of the unsettled state of Europe and the possibility that there might be another war. Having this feeling th<>y had decided to get their trip in while it was still possible. It has been noted that those from England and other parts of the world' who have booked through the tourist bureaux have expressed in interviews their complete satis "a"tion with the arrangements that have been made for them. T!"0 Tourist Department's idea Ih.-t ti c best advertisement for th? rt.lr.ictions of the Dominion is 1 tourists is, it is felt, the correct one.