POST-WAR TOURISTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 15, 19 January 1944, Page 7

POST-WAR TOURISTS

EXPECTED INFLUX FROM U.S.

New Zealand, previously known to many Americans by name only, seemed to have surpassed the expectations of visiting American servicemen, said the Minister in Charge of the Tourist and Publicity Department (Mr. Parry) today. "Servicemeu have told me, he said, "that the best advertising boost in America that New Zealand has ever had for its attractions has come from the men of the Forces. These men had spoken with enthusiasm of the Dominion's natural scenic beauties, and of the unlimited opportunities they had found for varied wild life sport, which to them had many unusual features. 1 "Their parents, relatives, and friends will be "keen, servicemen have said, to see the country where their boys were located for some time," Mr. Parry added. "One man, whose laudatory description of New Zealand and all it possessed would delight any audience, affirmed that after Japan had paid the price for Pearl Harbour, in .the States it will be 'let's skedaddle to the Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand.'" The Minister said that plans had been prepared to meet an anticipated heavy influx of post-war tourists. "There is much preparatory work to be done," Mr. Parry stated, ."and New Zealand must be ready properly and effectively to receive, accommodate, and transport this expected increased tourist traffic."' The traffic to the tourist resorts during the holiday period in December and January had eclipsed all records for several years, said the Minister. Rotorua, Waikaremoana, and Queens-, town were the resorts strongly favoured. A large rush of people to the Chateau Tongariro would have taken place had it been possible to reopen the place.