TOURIST TRAFFIC

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 74, 21 December 1937, Page 6

TOURIST TRAFFIC

Accommodation In North Island Over-Taxed

PROBLEM THIS YEAR WORSE THAN EVER

By Telegraph.—Press Association

Auckland, December 20.

With the holiday season only just commencing there is already definite over-taxing of first-class hotel accommodation in Auckland itself, and in the principal tourist centres of the North Island. This is an annually recurring problem, but from all accounts the position this year is likely to prove worse than ever.

According to the men who are closely in touch with tlie development of tourist traffic, the accommodation shortage in Auckland and Rotorua may even imperil a lucrative source of revenue to the Dominion. In Rotorua it is stated there will hardly be a room available from now until the end of January. The Auckland hotels are crowded and are likely to remain so until well into the New Year, and over and above this tlie type of accommodation offering is not up to the standard required by many overseas visitors.

“We have been building up our tourist traffic for some years now,” one official said. “The Government, with magnificent assistance from some of the shipping companies, has been spending large sums in publicity overseas and (i steady annual increase in tlie flow of tourists is there to prove that the scenic and sporting attractions of the Dominion are achieving world fame. We have been spending money and effort in attracting tourists but we have been doing little, if anything, to cater fo r them when they arrive.”