MANY TOURISTS

Evening Star, Issue 22684, 25 June 1937, Page 3

MANY TOURISTS

NEXT SEASON'S TRAFFIC BOOKINGS ALREADY HEAVY A record tourist season is expected next year in Auckland. Next February the Roman Catholic Church is to celebrate the arrival here of Bishop Pompallier in 1838, and the Government Tourist Department anticipates that something like 20,000 visitors from all parts of New Zealand and overseas will arrive to participate in the centennial celebrations. Steamship lines expect the_ arrival of more ordinary tourists this year than last, which enjoyed a revival. Between now and the end of August the Matson liners from San Francisco will be full ships. The Royal Mail liner Niagara left Vancouver on June 8 with 300 passengers, and the company, like its American competitor, looks forward to an excellent tourist season (states the ‘ Herald ’). Because of the Coronation the southbound traffic from both America and Canada will b© unusually heavy, particularly from August until October, when most New Zealanders and Australians who went to England will return for the spring. Then, too, a good many Americans will begin their oversea holiday, and tourist agencies believe that because of unsettled conditions on the Continent, as well as the high opinion held upon New Zealand’s attractions, numerous Americans will take their holiday this year in the Dominion. The Auckland agencies are beset with the problem of finding accommodation for the thousands of people who will come to Auckland between the end of this year and the Roman Catholic celebrations in the following February. During the last tourist season the situation was difficult, but the coming one should bring difficulties that will require all the resources of the tourist agencies to surmount.