NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1931 THE CHANGING PACIFIC

Northern Advocate, 12 February 1931, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1931 THE CHANGING PACIFIC

Registered for Transmission Through the Post as a Newspaper.

The changes which have taken place in transport on the Pacific Ocean have been remarkable during recent years. In fact, so great has been the transformation that dwellers in New Zealand, which lies so far to the south, are apt j to fail to grasp the significance of the movement. Steamer routes criss-cross the ocean in every direction, and bigger and bigger vessels are being placed on the services. Presently liners that will outclass the leviathans of the Atlantic will be plying between inter-Pacific ports. From anywhere ■to anywhere in the Pacific, in comfort, is now possible. Moreover, air transport has so far developed that it is possible now to travel frdm Vancouver to the Argentine by air, and these new cloud-routes and skyways are drawing immense revenue from tourists. An airship communication between the United States and Japon is likely in 1932. In the meantime there is great rivalry between Canadian and American air transport interests to be first to establish airplane mail connection with the Orient, via Behring Straits and Siberia. Obviously those are but the forerunners of Pacific-encircling air lines. The New Zealand Tourist League, in drawing attention to these facts, and leaving to chambers of commerce and the associations of manufacturers and exporters the discussion of inter-trade opportunities, raises the important question of “the marketing of our scenic glories and stressing of the charms of travel in our surprisingly beautiful and worldpraised country, to the end that some of the existing huge stream of tourist gold may pass our way, fertilising our national wealth production and fostering better relations between our own folk and folk from other places.” The market is open to the world and competition is keen. The United States, Canada, Japan, Dutch East Indies and other countries are actively organising programmes for the attraction of tourists. Now Zealand, though the firstcountry in the world to organise a State Tourist Department, has to be satisfied with 9,000 tourists, and their expenditure has been variously estlfated at. from £7O to £IOO a head, so that the Dominion’s income from this source is under £1,000,000 yearly. The disquieting feature about the situation in this country is that owing to the fact that many New Zealanders travel, their

payments abroad cause a serious annual loss. About 10,000 residents of these islands take about £2,800.000 away, and that means a debit balauee of nearly £2,000,000 a year. In a decade this amounts to about £20,000,000. If.we could increase our tourist traffic twelve-fold, or over 1000 per cent., to 120,000 annual visitors, they would leave in the country an amount equal to the interest on our national debt of £260,000,000. Such a development should not be beyond the bounds off practical realisation, ybecause by the! adoption of methods, Hawaii! has increased the of visitors fourfold in the lastjten years. In one direction particularly, there is scope for immediate expansion. Australia attracts over 10,000 New Zealanders a year, and on a population basis, we should get 44 times (or 45,000) as many from the island continent, instead of only 6,500, The New Zealand Tourist League is of opinion that this country should co-operate in a combined effort by Pacific countries. Such an effort was sot on foot at a conference hold in flan Francisco last July and is to be pursued at a conference to be held in Honolulu shortly. There will be no dispute with the contention that we should perfect as soon as possible our plans for attracting tourists. New Zealand has wonderful scenic wealth to offer, and if, as seems possible, a tourist traffic worth £5,000.000 per asnum can bo developed within a few years, It will make a most welcome addition to the national income.