COOK ISLANDS Cheap Air Service Need For Tourism

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30405, 2 April 1964, Page 3

COOK ISLANDS Cheap Air Service Need For Tourism

(From Our Own ' Reporter)

WELLINGTON, April 1.

A cheaper air sendee would be the first requirement for any modest development of the tourist industry in the Cook Islands, said the Minister of Island Territories (Mr Hanan) this afternoon.

He said that two aerodrome engineering experts from the Ministry of Works and the Civil Aviation Administration had accompanied him on his recent visit to the Cook Islands.

“These departments are now in a position to advise the Government on the cost of any improved service, related to the types of aircraft which would be available,” Mr Hanan said. “At present, Rarotonga has too few tourist facilities. To that extent, the question is a little like the chicken and the egg.” Asked if the present airfields at Rarotonga or Aitutaki might be extended to make a jet strip, Mr Hanan said that this would be a matter for the Minister of Civil Aviation (Mr

McAlpine) and Tasman Empire Airways, Ltd. If it was decided to extend either one, the departments concerned now had full information. Island’s View

“I met members of the Cook Islands assembly, and heard their views on tourism,” Mr Hanan said. “A substantial majority favour controlled tourism, but they do not want tourism in the Tahiti style.”

Mr Hanan said that Rarotonga had an airstrip 5000 feet long, Aitutaki had two airstrips, developed during the war for Liberator bombers. A DC3 airliner of Polynesian Airlines (loaned by the National Airways Corporation and converted last year at Harewood) flew in each week from Western Samoa—but the overwater flight of 770 miles limited the number of passengers to 12. The single fare from New Zealand was more than £7O. Sea Service The Government-owned fruit ship, Moana Roa, ran a monthly service from Auckland with 40 passengers. Generally speaking, available berths and plane seats were booked out some time ahead. “The movement of Cook Islanders to New Zealand is further limited by the need for public servants and school teachers to take a proportion of available transport,” Mr Hanan said. “There is therefore a case for improving the airfield.”