TOURISTS AFTER WAR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 93, 17 October 1944, Page 4

TOURISTS AFTER WAR

CHANCE FOR AUSTRALIA

O.C. SYDNEY, September 27. Australia has an opportunity to bees + me j* centre of attraction for tourists after the war, according to Mr. Roland Hill, manager of the American Travel Association which has its offices in bydney. His association has already received innumerable inquiries about Australian tourist attractions, said Mr. Hill. Many inquiries are from i relatives and friends of United States servicemen serving i n the South-west Pacific area, and the range of questions covers many subjects. Mr. Hill said that Australia should prepare now to cater for the potential tourist trade. "Before the war Great Britain, South Africa, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Japan, and other countries spent many thousands, of pounds a year in Australia to attract tourists from Australia," he added. "Australia cannot attord to neglect the opportunities of doing the same abroad. Australia, which has not had her cities bombed, will have an advantage over those countries which have. Tourists will' not be able to travel to Europe in great numbers until hotels have been rebuilt, harbours cleared, docks and roads restored, agriculture and industry rehabilitated. There must be a ccmstant stream of tourist literature available to travel organisations in the United States, and complete information about Australia's economic and social life."

Mr. Hill said he expected that postwar tourist trade in Australia would cause great improvement in the standard of hotels. "After the last war French hotelkeepers went out of the way to make tourists content, and the country, Paris in particular, benefited, he said. "People must be tempted from the comfort of their homes and modern, comfortable hotels m Australia's mam cities will encourage tourists. Lend-lease has let American business men know the vast opportunities for trade in Australia These men will not be strictly tourists but they will need accommodation. A* flourishing tourist trade brings employment to scores of different industries besides such obvious ones as hotels and transport companies."