‘Poor Advertising By N.Z. Tourist Bureau Overseas'

Press, Volume C, Issue 29656, 28 October 1961, Page 13

‘Poor Advertising By N.Z. Tourist Bureau Overseas'

(New Zealand Press Association)

TIMARU, Oct. 27. The New Zealand Tourist Bureau was falling down on the job of advertising the Dominion in the eyes of the American tourist, said Mr K. H. Allen, a retired banker, who has returned to Timaru after a four-month trip to America and Canada. No New Zealand publicity material was displayed in Matson shipping line offices in Los Angeles or San Francisco, and the New Zealand Film Unit pictures shown to the 366 passengers on- the Monterey on the return trip to New Zealand were obviously at least 10 years old, said Mr Allen. “The poor colour photography and the dress fashions of the women suggested that the films were produced about 1952 or earlier. To myself and 22 other New Zealand passengers it was disappointing to see such old photographs of Rotorua’s attractions and glow-worm eaves at Waiitomo. The South Island was almost completely neglected. We agreed it was very poor publicity

for our country’s attractions. “You can’t blame the Matson shipping line. It is our own publicity department that is at fault,” said Mr Allen. “In Auckland I told -the Tourist Bureau officers about these films but they were evasive, and said there was too big a demand for publicity films. If the bureau wants overseas tourists to come to New Zealand the department will have to advertise through films and pictures. And the best avenue for doing that is on passenger ships travelling between America and New Zealand and Australia, and also in the shipping agencies overseas.”