“Unspoilt By Tourism ”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31256, 31 December 1966, Page 2

“Unspoilt By Tourism ”

Commercialism in a country need not be synonymous with vulgarity, nor does it necessarily mean exploitation of tourists, according to a visitor from Hawaii, Mrs Philip Thayer, whose family owns Mackenzie Tours of Hawaii.

“Of course we stage festivals and entertainments, which people complain is highly commercialised. At the Polynesian Cultures centre built by the Mormon Church there is indeed' an entry gate and you have to pay, but how else are people going to see Hawaii as it was. They haven’t lived in grass huts for 50 years,” said Mrs Thayer yesterday. Without private enterprise many of a country’s attractions were missed by the tourist. Mrs Thayer considers that commercialisation is creative. “It’s become a nasty word, I wish another one could be coined to replace it.” Although she approves of progress, Mrs Thayer has her roots firmly in old Hawaii. She and her husband retired there from California only nine years ago, but she was bom and raised on Hawaii. Her grandfather settled in the “Pacific paradise” in 1850, married a French-Polynesian, and raised his family. Mrs Thayer’s brother, Jimmy, “full of bright, go-ahead ideas” started the Mackenzie Tours business 20 years ago. “I was a driver-guide and escort, I carried bags, and did

all manner of things,” she said. The spirit of aloha, which the islands still maintain, is carried into the business and brought Mrs Thayer and her future husband together.

“He had cut his foot on some coral and came limping into the office to ask about a trip to another island. I told him he should see a doctor, and to save a lot of explanations, I took him in my car to the nearest clinic,” she said with a smile.

This spirit of friendliness is fostered continually in Hawaii, particularly with the children. Mrs Thayer does not believe it will ever be lost for it is inborn.

The couple are agreed that this same spirit exists here. “It’s very precious, so don’t lose it,” said Mr Thayer. This is a return trip for the Thayers, and visiting two families, including a sheep farming family from Canterbury, is one of the inducements to come to New Zealand again. “You are on the threshold of a really big tourist boom here —more than you can see,” he said. “With a reduction of air fares things would really go. After going all round the world we don’t know why people go to the places they do when they could come here.” Since the lowering of the air fare from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Honolulu from 133 dollars to 100 tourism had increased “fantastically.” No longer was Hawaii a paradise for millionaires only.

Comfortable rooms were available from a highest rate

of 22 dollars a day to a lowest of about 12 dollars a day for a couple’s room.

“We have some of the most plush facilities in the world but also almost the widest variety in the world,” said Mr Thayer, whose part-time interest in the travel agency, one of the few family owned agencies in Hawaii, has grown into a full-time occupation as vice-president Interest in the Neighbour Islands, Kauhai, Molokai, and Maui, and Hawaii was growing.

“But even as people seek more worlds to conquer they are also demanding running water, flush toilets, and soap.l The Neighbour Islands have excellent accommodation and more will be built. To try to stop this would be like turning back the tide,” she said. Mrs Thayer agrees that tourism has spoilt Hawaii, but only to a very small extent. “Would you sacrifice about one half of 1 per cent for the benefits to be gained? Hawaii is much the same as it was,” Mrs Thayer said.