Suggestions For Tourist Attractions On West Coast

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29909, 24 August 1962, Page 13

Suggestions For Tourist Attractions On West Coast

Suggestions for attracting more tourists to the West Coast are made in a report by Mr W. A. Pickford, manager of the Government Tourist Bureau in Christchurch, to the Department of Tourist acid Publicity. Mr Pickford suggests the provision of novelty attractions such as a ghost town <movie set style), do-it-your-self gold panning, certificates of honorary Coast citizenship, widening stretches of road, and improved access to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.

Mr Pickford was the leader of a party of 10 Tourist Department officers from Rotorua. Wellington. Dunedin. Invercargill, and Auckland which made a two-w’eek staff training tour of the western sector of the South Island.

The tour was arranged to keep the tourist bureaus up-

to-date on developments and facilities now available for tourists in this area, and also to report on promotion developments that could assist the West Coast tourist industry, Mr Pickford said yesterday. Recent Decline

The melting of the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, resulting in both a reduction of attractiveness and difficulty of access, and the destruction by fire of the Buller Hotel (Westport) and the Franz Josef hotel had caused the tourist traffic, particularly from overseas, to decline in recently years.

In the meantime, other areas in New Zealand had been developed while the West Coast marked time. Now with the introduction of the Aramoana and the completion of the Haast Pass road in 1965. the West Coast could look forward to an increased flow of tourists, Mr Pickford said.

These would be mainly New Zealanders probably from the bottom of the North Island and from Otago and Southland. At the same time it would be possible for overseas visitors to make a roundtrip of the South Island down the West Coast, over the Haast Pass to' Wanaka, Queenstown and Milford Sound, returning either by the east coast route or inland via the Hermitage.

"To keep visitors longer on the West Coast it will be necessary to add new features and develop existing facilities,’’ said Mr Pickford. Access to Glaciers

At the glaciers. Mr Pickford said, the cutting of a road along one of the mountain spurs at either the Fox or Franz Josef glaciers would improve access to the upper reaches, with chair lifts from the road terminal to carry tourists to the upper basins of the glaciers. The construction of a movie set type ghost town to show

life as it was in the heyday of gold mining, with a street of shops, some with false fronts and others with period-dressed models would be both a museum and a strong tourist attraction. Streams in the area which provide a show of gold could be set aside to allow tourists to try their hand at gold panning. Equipment could be issued for a small fee. To provide a souvenir, honorary certificates of West Coast citizenship, embodying the terms of the famous West Coast Charter could be issued. Mr Pickford found that with little incentive for hotel keepers, accommodation had not kept pace with other parts of New Zealand. As heavy goods traffic was mainly by road, it was essential that certain stretches of narrow, winding difficult roads such as the Lyell and Fox and Franz Josef roads should be brought up to main road standard as soon as possible. ‘‘l can envisage a line of private cars, many with trailers, behind one of these coal lorries which take up meeting a similar convoy coming the other way. These conditions would not appeal to tourists.” said Mr Pickford. In the Marlborough-Picton area, new roads were being built which would result in the development of more motels especially in the Kenepuru and Marlborough Sounds. At Picton. a new boat harbour or marina was planned to give accommodation to the many private yachts and launches there.

Some years ago there was talk of cutting a canal between Queen Charlotte and Kenepuru Sounds either at Portage or Onehau, Mr Pickford said. "If this were done it would throw open the whole of the sounds for holiday makers in launches and small craft from Picton,” said Mr Pickford.