Tourist Bureau Under Fire

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31539, 29 November 1967, Page 1

Tourist Bureau Under Fire

More information about New Zealand was available in New York from an Australian trade bureau than from the New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau in a nearby building, according to an American couple in Christchurch last night. Mr and Mrs A. Pilpel, at present touring New Zealand, said that if it had been left to the Government Tourist Bureau they would probably

never have come to New Zealand. Only one pamphlet was available at the bureau when they first called, although after a three-month wait and a letter to the Minister of Tourism (Mr Thomson) more pamphlets arrived—on the day of their departure for New Zealand. No advice was available on rail or bus transport, they were told at the bureau, and no information could be gleaned about any accommodation other than Tourist Hotel Corporation houses. The bureau was prepared to book accommodation at the hotels and arrange air trans-

port or car hire in advance, but this would have tied them to a set schedule, Mrs Pilpel said. “Not everyone has the wish or the money to move with a herd of first-class sheep,” she said. The name of a Christchurch fly fisherman, Mr R. K. Bragg, was given to Mr and Mrs Pilpet by a fisherman in Vermont, with whom Mr Bragg was corresponding, and it was by writing to Mr Bragg that Mr and Mrs Pilpel learnt that fishing tackle, sleeping bags and camping equipment could be hired. “We could find out nothing about this in New York, and to have brought our own

would have meant more luggage and expense,” Mr Pilpel said. They also wrote to Mr R. Forrester in Rotorua and learnt from him that boats could be hired for fishing and that accommodation was not as expensive as they had been told. “We were told at your tourist bureau that $2O a night was the cheapest accommodation a couple could get,” Mrs Pilpel said. “We. almost gave up the idea of coming to New Zealand then,” she said. “We are glad we came all the same: we have enjoyed ourselves everywhere we have been,” Mr Pilpel said.