“Tourist Industry May Suffer”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31329, 28 March 1967, Page 14

“Tourist Industry May Suffer”

'•The Press" Special Service

AUCKLAND, March 27.

To stay happy, visitors to New Zealand must be able to get a drink in their hotels, says Mr R. A. Howlett, of Sydney.

Mr Howlett, public relations consultant to the New Zealand Tourist Hotel Corporation, has been touring the country to keep up to date with accommodation facilities. He has found concern in the hotel trade at the prospect of liquor shortages. Mr Howlett said he had suggested that accredited top standard hotels should be allowed to retain their present quota of liquor. “You will find a lot of dissatisfied overseas visitors if the liquor imports drop by 20 per cent,” he said. Mr Howlett believes the New Zealand tourist industry in general should be given more Government support. He does not quarrel with the standard of accommodation, but would like to see better facilities for training hotel staff at all levels and a better balance of bed usage. “City hotels are full during

the week and empty at weekends, while the opposite is true of resort hotels,” he said. He also believes that New Zealanders should refrain from filling their hotels. One travel agent in Australia had complained to him that it was useless trying to book Australians into New Zealand hotels because they were always full of New Zealanders. More tourist promotion should be beamed to the Australian market, says Mr Howlett. > The Australian was a very good spender, but was used to first-class accommodation, he said. About 14 countries were competing for the Australian dollar because Australian tourists were allowed to take up to 4000 dollars a year out of the country. During his 10-day tour of New Zealand, Mr Howlett visited tourist corporation hotels at Wanaka, Te Anau, and Franz Josef and found them of world-class standard. But one section of the transport industry could give tourists a bad impression, he said. Auckland had a “very rude bunch” of taxi-drivers.