‘Wonderful’ S.I. Scenery

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31975, 30 April 1969, Page 1

‘Wonderful’ S.I. Scenery

Mr W. T. Pilsworth, general manager of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland, has just completed a tour of South Island scenic attractions—his first visit |to the South Island—highly enthusiastic about iwhat he has seen.

Places within a day’s range of Christchurch—for example, Hanmer Springs and Mount Cook—Mr Pilsworth described as some of the most wonderful tourist country he had seen.

Queenstown, he thought, was a magnificent little place, and the South Island's snowy peaks, glaciers, and mountain lakes generally of great appeal to Queenslanders.

On the aspect of tourism, Mr Pilsworth said: “You can't lose, if your service is kept up to a high standard. You would go a long way in Australia to find anything better than some of the hotels here, and the way they are set up." Increasing numbers in

Queensland wanted to come! to New Zealand, Mr Pilsworth said. The Royal Automobile Club of Queensland —the equivalent of the New Zea-j land automobile associations! —had a thriving travel organisation which had arranged three very successful tours of. New Zealand last season. “We called for a tour party. of 30, and got a response from 90, and so ran three tours of 30,” he said. He | himself had decided to! inspect first-hand the available tourist attractions and I facilities, especially those in the South Island. Queensland, said Mr Pilsworth, had a general system of long-service leave—a three months holiday after 15 years service in one job—which was a good source of custom for travel organisations. New Zealand was a compact little country, in which a lot could be seen in a comparatively small compass. “We can come to New Zealand in the same time as it takes us to go from Brisbane to Melbourne, and in half the time it would take us to get from Brisbane to Perth," Mr Pilsworth said.

Although enthusiastic about New Zealand's scenery. Mr Pilsworth thinks there is room for improvement in personal service in tourist hotels.

As examples, Mr Pilsworth quoted from personal experience eases of “overcharging” (items being added to his account by mistake), being refused a glass of water at breakfast “because the bar was closed,” and special items advertised on a breakfast menu being “off” by 8.10 a.m. (“It was blueberry parfait.” Mr Pilsworth said. “It probably came from a tin, so I couldn’t understand why it should be off the menu so early, and why I should be told that it would probably be off at 7.30 the next morning.’’)

Mr Pilsworth conceded that many receptionists, clerks, and waitresses in tourist hotels were Australians, but suggested that the Tourist Hotel Corporation had the responsibility for their training and supervision. Other South Island resorts visited by Mr Pilsworth were Te Anau, Arrowtown. Lake Manapouri, and Milford Sound, and in the North Island the Bay of Islands, Rotorua. Taupo, Waitomo, and Wairakei. Mr Pilsworth will return to Brisbane today.