Tourist mission to Sydney confirmed

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32775, 27 November 1971, Page 18

Tourist mission to Sydney confirmed

The South Island Promotion Association will send a tourist mission to Sydney late next year or early in 1973. The chairman of the promotion committee (Mr J. E. Davies) said yesterday that the timing of the mission and emphasis on the South Island related to Christchurch being the host city for the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

“Many Australians still believe that the Games will be held in their country and not in New Zealand,” Mr Davies said. “The visit to Sydney will be to remove all doubts on this score from the minds of the people of New South Wales. “We want to remind them that they will not have to travel as far for the 1974 Games as so many of them did for the 1962 Games held in Perth.” Mr Davies said there was never any intention of the Promotion Association “going it alone,” nor of promoting the South Island exclusively.

The mission would be in conjunction with Air New Zealand—and others invited to participate were the Government Tourist Department, Qantas, the National Travel Association, tour operators, the Commonwealth Games organisation, representatives of tourist centres in the North and South Islands, and other travel interests. Mr Davies said the association was aware that the travel habits of overseas visitors favoured the South Island. This need not disturb the North Island, since 80 per cent of tourists visited both islands. Almost 80 per cent of planning and programming of coach tours for the whole of New Zealand was done in Christchurch, where the majority of tour operators were based. Two members of Mr Davies’ committee —Messrs M. Lockie and A. WestWatson—will visit Sydney next week to make an exploratory survey.