TOURIST TRAFFIC.

Evening Star, Issue 22203, 4 December 1935, Page 10

TOURIST TRAFFIC.

This is an age of travel. In an earlier day in Dunedin people were content to stay at borne during the Christmas holidays, and at New Year time find relaxation in watching the Caledonian games, the fixture sometimes extending over three days. All that is changed. Holidays are more numerous everywhere, and the facilities for getting about have increased enormously. As a consequence, the habit of travelling for pleasure has taken a firm hold of the people, and when opportunity comes everyone wants to be afoot or awheel. Sir Joseph Ward was quick to discern the possibilities, and to his initiative wo owe the establishment of the Tourist Department. It began its operations in a small way, and has gradually become an important branch of the State’s activities. In the process of the department’s development the South Island has been heavily handicapped, • but it is gradually coming into its own. Its geographical position has been a big impediment, and the North Island has an asset in its thermal wonderland, which has been fully exploited. The beauty and variety of the scenery on this side of Cook Strajt, however, make a profound impression on every visitor. The Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, the grandeur of the Southern Alps, the magnificent chain of lakes, the birch and other forests, and rivers stocked with fish provide opportunities for the tourist that are not excelled in any other part of the world. Much good work is being done by the Tourist 7 Department in its efforts to attract to these shores visitors from overseas, and the reproach is not now often heard that the North Island is unduly favoured, but the propaganda should not be left to the officials alone. Mr C. Clibborn, secretary of the Lyttelton Harbour Board, has just returned from a visit to Australia. He has interested himself particularly in matters relating to the tourist trade. He is enthusiastic about it, in fact, and he sees great opportunities ahead/ The people of the Commonwealth, actoQpdjng h,ig ynjurfipjonss eia feeeafe

interested in New Zealand, and they are great travellers. Two obstacles, he points out, are the common belief on the other side of the Tasman that the Dominion has a cold climate, which is ridiculous, and the quite unnecessary fear of earthquakes. Efforts should be directed to removing these bogeys and to making travel facilities in the Dominion reliable, extensive, and certain. To supplement the work of the department, and to see that the South Island gets due recognition, Mr Clibborn advocates that progress and expansion leagues and other interested bodies should form a South Island Travel Association in the interests of the tourist traffic. The time is ripe for a vigorous forward move, and Mr Clibborn’s advocacy should give it a fillip. An interesting development is the announcement that the Bank of New South Wales has decided to open at its New Zealand branches a comprehensive travel service to deal with phases of the tourist' service. , There are undoubtedly great opportunities for the Dominion in encouraging visitors to come to its shores from overseas/ What is wanted is an active and co-ordinated effort to' have the traffic properly organised and developed.