TOURIST TRAFFIC

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22192, 20 August 1935, Page 13

TOURIST TRAFFIC

VALUE TO DOMINION WEALTH THAT WASTES NOT In appropriate terms of accountancy Mr. L. J. Schmitt. general manager of the Tourist Department, opened, an address on the tourist traffic at a meeting of the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, last week. "The tourist industry, or tourist traffic, if you like," Mr. Schmitt said, "is one in'which 'stock in trade' is not diminished by sales, and what is more, we never part, with our assets. There is no necessity to write off depreciation. And further, provided our resorts and magnificent scenery are sold properly, the buyer leaves his or her purchase with us more joyfully, and later proves to be our very best advertising agent by assisting us to sell over and over again what he or she has left with us after paying for it." Ml'. Schmitt remarked that his experience in New Zealand and Australia showed that 40 per cent of the total value of a tour went to the shipping companies and consequently to other industries supported by shipping, 25 per cent to hotels and guest housos, 25 per cent to internal transport organisations, and the balance of 10 per cent was spent on sundry items. He had no idea how the money spent on internal travel in New Zealand was spread, but he had seen a record once which showed that United States visitors to Canada spent 26 per cent on merchandise. 21 per cent in restaurants and cafes, 18 per cent in hotels and guest houses, 12 per cent on gasoline and oil. 9 per cent on amusements, 6 per cent on transport, and 8 per cent on incidentals.