Mt Cook shortcomings

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32613, 22 May 1971, Page 1

Mt Cook shortcomings

Trans Tours (N.Z.), has tour groups totalling 350 Americans and Australians which cannot be taken to Mount Cook because of insufficient accommodation—and as a result, there is a good chance that New Zealand will lose this business. t - The general manager of the company (Mr D. A Mundell) said that ail but 120 of : the tourists. want accommo- • dation either this October or in April, 1972—neither being ' peak months for tourism. ; “Already there are rumbi lings from the organisers of ' the tour that if Mount Cook i accommodation cannot be i confirmed very soon, New i Zealand will be cut from die itinerary. But the real danger is that the organisation will revert to Northern Hemisphere holidays,” Mr Mundell said. The tourist industry was being urged by the Govem--1 ment to step up its opera--1 tions to attract more and ■ more visitors to New Zea--1 land, yet. it was holding back ■on permission to develop Mount Cook—the area which 1 the Government itself had ' been promoting overseas as ' a prime scenic resort. “What makes , the situation i particularly galling is that ■ one group of 160' Americans ' belongs to a nation-wide seri vice organisation which each i year sends thousands of its , members on special group tours,” Mr Mundell said.

"Until now, all these groups have visited Northern Hemisphere After a lot of promotion and hard work, our Los Angeles office has managed to secure this trial group for a South Pacific visit,” he said. If this first tour was successful New Zealand could in future expect many more groups from the organisation, Mr Mundell said. If, as seemed certain, there was no improvement at Mount Cook for a considerable time, the Government should tell the Tourist and Publicity Department to shift its main emphasis of overseas promotion to Queenstown, so far as the South Island was concerned, Mr Mundell said. Huge amounts of capital were being poured into the development of • accommodation and other tourist facilities at Queenstown. These would not enjoy full use if New Zealand's overseas promotion continued to press Mount Cook, where there had been virtually no development for four years, and no likelihood of any for some time to come. New Zealand might just as well stop its tourist promotion of Mount Cook in North America and Australia if the Government did not make an early decision to start work on the proposed alpine village at Mount Cook. The Cabinet was at present studying the proposal to provide additional accommodation and other facilities in the Mount Cook National Park;, "Considering the $11.5m plan- produced for Government approval last October—after more than a year of investigation by Government departments—the tourist industry can only hope that if a go-ahead decision is made there will be no more procrastination,” Mr Mundell said. Mr Mundell said that the

one bright spot for tourism was the recent belated decision. by the Government' to assist the Queenstown Borough Council find the money to solve the resort’s sewerage and drainage problem. Even so, Government

procrastination on this matter had forced a delay of several urgently needed hotels. While some serious accomi modation problems existed at Queenstown, at least an end : to these was in sight.