Home hosting holiday for overseas tourists

Press, 14 July 1982, Page 30

Home hosting holiday for overseas tourists

Overseas tourists have long talked of New Zealanders' friendliness and easy hospitality but most have never had the opportunity to experience a Kiwi lifestyle in a New Zealand home.. This .experience is now being offered by a Nelson woman. Mrs Pat Jones, who has organised a system of “home hosting” for" overseas tourists and New Zealanders who would prefer a home-

style holiday to the normal packaged tour accommodation. She has selected and approached 20 Nelson district families who are prepared to host tourists at what appears a very reasonable cost of well below $3O a night per person. Each of these families has a 1 particular interest or hobby, so that she is able to place a tourist with a family which has similar interests to thpse of the tourist. Interpreters are also available if required. “We want these tourists to leave Nelson not just having had a holiday but with the realisation that they had had an unforgettable experience," said Mrs Jones. "We arc proclaiming the image of the friendly Kiwi — the friendliness and informality," she said. Mrs Jones said 'she had, agents operating in a number of countries but it was from the United States that she was anticipating getting most of her customers. As well as arranging family accommodation, ’ she also arranged tours, she said. She has been home-hosting

only nine months and. although the venture had proved most successful, she expected it to snowball from about October onwards, when the summer tourist season began, she said.