EASTER HOLIDAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23010, 11 April 1938, Page 12

EASTER HOLIDAY

MANY TRAVELLING EXCEPTIONAL BOOKINGS ACCOMMODATION TAXED One of the best late summer seasons for travelling for many years is expected this Easter. The Auckland Province will reap its full share of activity, according to tourist and hotel authorities, and in many ways the Easter period will be far busier than last. Because of the sesquicentennial celebrations at Sydney, it is not expected that there will bo as many Australian visitors as usual, but the number of tourists from farther abroad will be fully maintained and local travelling which lias already been arranged indicates that the city and all holiday resorts will be full of holiday-makers. In addition to having to cope with very heavy Easter bookings, those responsible for assisting travellers to get the most out of their last vacation of the summer have had to meet an extraordinary demand for accommodation and transport for this week. The arrival of the gigantic Empress of Britain and of the Reliance has been mainly responsible for this. Heavy Hotel Bookings

A key to the amount of travelling being done is provided by Auckland hotels and guest-houses. It was reported on Saturday that already most of the rooms have been booked and in one or two instances only a few single rooms aro available for lato bookings. To fill their houses, said one manager, was tho most they could do, and it seemed obvious that by next Friday accommodation would be extremely difficult to secure. The Government Tourist Department stated that tho rush of bookings for tho Easter and immediately pre-Easter periods was phenomenal. All over New Zealand inquiries for reservations in hotels and guest-houses, and on trains, steamers and aeroplanes were greater than last year. In tho South Island the Mount Cook Hermitage was booked out, and a party of distinguished visitors who tried to secure accommodation at the end of last week had to be refused; the inter-island express steamer Rangatira had stojjped booking for next Thursday; and on the Cook Strait air service at least one trip was fully reserved and for the others seats were very scarce. This applied also to the North Island services.

"Everybody Travelling" "Everybody seems to be travelling," it was stated, "and many are going by air." Hotels in the South were also doing heavy business. Two of the leading hotels at Wellington were already fully booked and accommodation at the others would be difficult to secure. At Napier, too, the main hotels had full lists. More travellers seemed to be making for Rotorua this year than ever before. All the hotels and guest-houses were fully booked and some had waitinglists. At National Park the Chateau was full, including the lodges and annexe. The department had been unable to obtain any more accommodation for its tourists at Wairakei, there were only a few rooms left at Waitomo, and there were a large number of bookings for Taupo, where the two leading houses were full. At Waikaremoana the department's hostel was fully reserved and at such other tourist resorts as Tauranga, Russell, where the two main hotels were booked out, Helensville and Waiwera exceptional business was being handled. The Arrival of Liners "The arrival this week of the Empress of Britain and the Reliance, of the Mariposa on Thursday and the Niagara on Monday, together with late local bookings, has given us an immense amount of work," stated one of the department's Auckland officers. "There is an extraordinary rush and local business is greater than last year. There are also more bookings for Australia than usual."

Sharing the general briskness is the Railway Department. Three trains from Auckland to Wellington next Thursday were booked to the last seat on Friday and all seats on the afternoon and limited expresses on Easter Monday have been taken. Advance bookings are heavier than usual and in addition to the trains for the south, those from Wellington and to Rotorua have also been very popular. Service cars also reported satisfactory business.

ELABORATE PLANS ii 1 ' iwi AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION ADVICE TO MOTORISTS Elaborate arrangements have been completed in anticipation of a record number of holiday motorists on the roads at Easter. The Automobile Association (Auckland) is augmenting its ordinary patrol staff, and men have been detailed for duty in case of bad weather on sections of the highway which are under construction, where trouble may possibly develop on new earthworks. Motorists are advised closely to observe all warning signs which aro placed for their guidance and to regulate their speeds inglyTraffic officers of the Transport Department will bo on duty on all the main highways throughout the holiday period, and it is reported that particular attention will be directed to speeding through 30-miles-an-hour areas and to the rather prevalent practice of cornering on the wrong side of the road, as well as overtaking and passing cars on . bends. _ An Automobile Association officer said yesterday that a feature of Easter traffic was the seeming impatience of drivers to reach their destinations as quickly as possible, and sometimes at this holiday period there was not the same consideration shown to others as was apparent at other times. There had, however, been marked improvement in road conduct during recent months. Toward the end of the week highway reconstruction works would be cleaned up and placed in good order, for Easter traffic. Maintenance gangs were concentrated on loose-metalled surfaces to remove corrugations and pot-holes, and altogether it was anticipated that reasonably .good travelling conditions might be expected. The touring department of the Automobile Association had had an exceptionally busy time in tho past 10 days, he concluded, preparing itineraries .for tourists to all parts of the Dominion.