STATE TOURIST BUREAUX

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 19 October 1937, Page 9

STATE TOURIST BUREAUX

FURTHER COMPLAINT

CONDID COMMENT BY AMERICAN VISITOR 1 liv I'elegraph Press Associationl CHRISTCHURCH, 17th October. “In my travels in New Zealand I have spoken to many American tourists, and have gathered from their conversation that they have not been encouraged to visit the South Island and that they certainly had not been told of its beauties and attractions compared with those of the Nortn Island. Personally, Ido not see why the Government tourist bureaux are operating. I have seen New Zealand. I have done 7000 miles by motor without the assistance of the bureaux.” This statement was made by Miss M. Sykes, of Vancouver. Working for the Pathfinder Publishing Company, of Vancouver, she has visited most tourist attractions in Canada and the United States, and is in touch with all sources of travel information and literature. Her experiences of the Government bureaux in the Dominion on her present trip prompted her to call on the Hon. F. Langstone, Minister in Charge of the Tourist and Publicity Department, whom she credits with a genuine desire to foster tourist traffic in New Zealand. Certain of her comments, in answer to questions about her impressions, were brief and direct. What had she been told at the Invercargill Government bureau, where she asked about suitable week-end trips? —Nothing.

How did the attractions of the North Island compare with those of the South Island?—They haven’t any in the North Island.

How much tourist publicity for New Zealand had she come across in Canada and the United States?—The publicity isn’t there at all.

IMPOSSIBLE TO GET INFOR MATiON”

“In Invercargill I dropped into the Government bureau to get information about week-end trips round Invercargill,” Miss Sykes said. “I came to the conclusion that there was not much to do. They gave me a lot of folders, but they fold me nothing. I decided to get my information from the local people, and I soon found that there were plenty of beauty spots within easy reach of Invercargill.” She asked about accommodation at one place, and was told that the nearest house was 40 miles away; but she later discovered that there was a good accommodation house quite near.

“I went to the Dunedin office in July, when I wanted information about getting to the Franz Josef glacier. I was accompanied to the office by two New Zealand friends. 1 found it practically impossible to get information. When I said I did nol want to go by rail, but to drive myself, they suggested that I could go to the automobile association, and that they did not supply road maps. I left that office after 20 minutes’ conversation without even as much as a folder. “So I decided to abandon the Government tourist bureaux, and 1 was given, and have been given, more assistance free of charge by the automobile associations than by any other concern. I reported this to the de-

partment. in Wellington later on. and they said they would look into it. They asked if I had spoke to the managers of the bureaux: but I felt that if there was a man there to give information it should not be necessary to go to the manager.

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