Auckland hotel plans

Press, 9 May 1981, Page 14

Auckland hotel plans

By

Bruce Roscoe

in Tokyo

A Japanese corporation's project to build the biggest hotel in New Zealand — a 600-room, 25-storey structure in the heart of Auckland — is moving into the final planning stage.

The Japanese organiser of the project is Tokyu Hotels International, which owns a network of 10,000 hotel rooms in Japan and 4000 overseas.

The Auckland site is bounded by Albert Street, Swanson Street and Milisland and has pedestrian access to Queen Street.

The director of planning and development for the T.H.1., Mr Nobuo Koizumi, is to meet Mr John Austin, a' director of Jasmad, which with Fletchers is a joint

developer in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Business discussions will include the composition of the New Zealand groups in the project. In an interview in Tokyo Mr Koizumi said, “Minor and natural discrepancies over the New Zealand participation will be discussed in Kuala Lumpur.” He said foreign arrivals in Auckland, particularly American and Japanese, were increasing rapidly, but travellers were having to book into smaller hotels out of the city, which was inconvenient. New Zealand should not worry about the increase in accommodation that Tokyu would create, Mr Koizumi said. Tokyu would not take clients away but attract more arrivals.

“We do not seek to keep visitors in Auckland. Our hotel will offer a wide range of services and also cater for executive V.I.P.s as they enter New Zealand. “Our long experience in Japan suggests that once we go ahead with a hotel of this size, our sales promotion fol-low-up will automatically create a New Zealand boom in Japan.” Mr Koizumi said the New Zealand Government had “responded favourably” to the hotel proposal, although a formal application for approval would not be filed for about six months. With big hotels already built in Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Hawaii and

Vanuatu, Mr Koizumi argued that this was contributing to the economic development of the Pacific Basin.