HOLIDAY TRAVEL

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 74, 21 December 1937, Page 10

HOLIDAY TRAVEL

Heavy Bookings On Train, Boat And Plane ACCOMMODATION SCARCE Bookings show that the number of people travelling by train, boat and aeroplane at Christmas will be exceptionally large. Accommodation at most of the popular holiday resorts is already almost fully booked. Many North Islanders will travel south, and the steamer express on December 22, 23, and 24 has a full passenger list. There will be extra daylight trips on December 23 and 24; on these there is still cabin accommodation in the first class and transport accommodation in the second. So 'many motorists are taking their cars with them that some have not been able to secure transport for the cars at suitable times pn the ferry service, and consequently have had to rearrange their tours. One motorist intends to send his car by a scow, while he and his family fly across to Picton. The |Union Steam Ship Company has arranged for the Waipahi to make a special trip to Pieton to-morrow and the Wainui a special trip to Lyttelton to-day; by these means all the cars now on the waiting list will be transported. It is believed that this year’s' air traflic to the South Island will be a record. On a three-clay schedule to Christmas Day, Cook Strait Airways’ planes will make 30 crossings from Rongotai. Included in this schedule are 12 extra crossings to cope with the heavy traflic. The planes are fully booked on December 23, 24, 25, and 26. On the Union Airways, WellingtonAuckland, service there are still seats available, although the demand is heavy.

The Government Tourist Bureau reports that the number travelling bj' train will be much greater than last Christinas. On December 24 there will be seven trains from Wellington to Auckland, but seats are still available only on the one which leaves at 10.7 p.m. For Hawke’s Bay on the same day the 9.40 a.m. and 11.48 p.m. trains are both fully booked, but there is accommodation on trains leaving at 9.55 a.m. on December 24 and 12.10 a.m. on December 25. For New Plymouth, the 10.15 a.m. train is full, and the 10.2 S a.m. and 11.20 p.m. are rapidly filling.

Accommodation at all hotels on the bureau’s list is heavily, in many cases fully, booked. At Rotorua those who have not already made arrangements will be able to go only to private homes. The Wairakei Hostel and the Chateau Tongariro 'will both be fully occupied throughout Christmas and New Year, but there is some room left in the dodges at the Chateau. The Waitomo Hostel has 'accommodation only on some nights. Napier, Wanganui, New Plymouth, and Tauranga hotels are all booked almost, to capacity. The situation is similar iu the South Island, particularly at Queenstown, where all boardinghouse accommodation for Christmas amj New Year was taken a month ago.