Tourism Problem Forecast

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31306, 28 February 1967, Page 15

Tourism Problem Forecast

Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific might soon be unable to provide sufficient accommodation and travel facilities for tourists, the United Kingdom and Europe publicity officer for the Australian National Travel Association, Mr A. A. Quartermain, said in Christchurch yesterday. The problem was worrying Australia, which was looking for ways of attracting overseas capital to the tourist industry. Mr Quartermain said his association’s purpose was to promote tourism and not to book tourists. Lack of knowledge among Europeans about the South Pacific was the biggest hurdle to promoting the South Pacific as a tourist attraction. Distance was also a big factor.

However, these things were changing with the introduction of all-inclusive tours by travel agents and the advent of the jumbo jet, with its possibility of a fare reduction.

On the other side of the picture, it was recognised that the South Pacific was a restricted market. Present promotion was aimed at persons in their fifties with plenty of money and time to spend enjoying a holiday. Such people

formed the bulk of European tourists visiting the area. Other specialist types at whom promotions were aimed were businessmen looking for markets or for places to invest, and the relatives of immigrants who, by using chartered aircraft, could tnake the journey at a greatly reduced cost. “However, to the ordinal? European the South Pacific is a vague blob on a map,” he said. Australia’s best points of attraction for tourists were its unusual features, such as its strange animals. “The European market is huge and if we can attract a fraction of it we will be doing very well,” he said. Mr Quartermain, a New Zealander, is visiting Australia and Fiji as escort to a party of United Kingdom and United States travel writers in conjunction with the extension of 8.0.A.C.’s Kangaroo route from Fiji across the United States back to London. The writers were seeing

i parts of Australia and Fiji but would not have time to t tour New Zealand, he said. 1 Most of the group would r see only Auckland, he said. > One er two of the group s had plans to visit New Zea- > land .on their own initiative ; later, he said.