TOURIST RESORTS

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12199, 25 July 1925, Page 6

TOURIST RESORTS

PUBLICITY RETURNS IMPORTANT STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER * REORGANISATION EXPLAINED In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon the Prime Minister made a very interesting speech which was listened to with keen interest by all present. The subject-- was our tourist resorts and publicity both at home and abroad in regard to them. He explained the reorganisation that had. been effected in 'regard to publicity matters; That depArtment was now joined up with- the commercial blanch of the Railway Department, and the Tourist Department, and a hoard representative of the three had been formed. That board worked in connection with publicity outside New ZeAland. Mr. Messenger was chairman of the board which met regularly and defined the operations for the year. It welcomed and did reoeive advice from outside organisations. It worked in with - them as far as publicity in New Zealand and abroad was concerned. There were many gentlemen here who made suggestions at the meetings. That board was under the control of the three Ministers principally interested. The Ministers were the Hon. Mr Anderson, head of the Publicity Department, himself, as Minister for Jtaifways, and Mr Nosworthy, as Minister in charge of Tourist Resorts. THE RAILWAYS In so-far as the railways were concerned, they did a certain amount of their own publicity work, but that did not in any way clash—with the Publicity Board, and tjie Publicity De--partment carried out a - good deal of work that was necessary in connection with the Railway Department outside New Zealand. ' Arrangements had been made for an exchange of posters and pamphlets between the New Zealand railways and railways in Canada, the United States and Australia. It was only late last year that the co-ord-ination had been brought about. In New Zealand the Railway Department handled its own publicity. For instance it was making arrangements to attract people to Rotorua. The commercial agent had visited that town and had made an arrangement with the Borough Council to advertise with a view to increased traffic in the off season by means of special trains and special fares! That was for New Zealand tourists alone. .To assist this effort, money had been collected from each - boarding-house and such ' moneys would he subsidised by the Railway Department. The same was being applied to Helensville, and later on would be applied to Queenstown. As soon as the people there were ready to make contributions, the department would be prepared to subsidise them. Ai* ready good results had been obtained from the publicity abroad. In 1924, £20,800 had been spent, and this year £25,000 would he asked for to carp out what was considered to be the' work of the Publicity Department abroad. The figures were mounting up, hut they realised that New Zealand was a country that was worth advertising. We must, however, act according to our capacity, for after all we were a small community. LECTURER FOR ABROAD

Tbev were now discussing the question of getting a lecturer to go abroad in connection with films and lantern slides, because it was realised that unless there was someone to explain the attractions of the country they would not get full effect. Thousands of' leaflets had already been sent out for the first time. Another new departure was that they were getting into personal touch by moans of letters with people who were likely to visit the country from Australia, Canada, U.S.A., and Britain. The matter was as yet in its infancy, but the department were putting their backs into tbe work, and. were aiming at a definite object, and with a view to getting full value for what was spent. In addition to all this there was "a continuous stream of articles going to the newspapers of the English-speaking world. Another mattor that had been discussed was the method of improving our tourist reaorts. That had been carefully considered. Thev had come to the conclusion that they could not get perfection all at once, and that they would have to ndopt a system of concentration, and finish one or two of the more important resorts properly, instead of spending money so largely over a large number of resorts. In that way they would achieve a good result in a quicker time, and in a manner that would he a credit to the country. In the past the money had been spent here, there and everywhere. / CONCENTRATION ADVOCATED If they concentrated ou two or three resorts, and made , them attractive and sufficient to accamipodate the number of people likely to visit them 'they would get much further than if they spread the money all round. That Was a matter of policy, and the Public Works estimates this year would 'show the intention of the Government in that direction. Waitomo, for instance, was one resort that should he finished and got out of the way. There were at present some resorts where the accommodation was not sufficient to put up the number who wislied to visit them. People were beginning to travel in large parties, and it was getting more difficult to find accommodation for such parties. This year it was proposed to spend more in connection with tourist resorts than* had been spent for 4ears. Already they realised that as, the result of their publicity there was going to he an influx of tourists to’ New Zealand. As a matter of fact they were receiving letters from all over the world to-day, asking for 1 particulars as to the cost of travel, hoard, etc. The-indications were all in favour of a considerable increase in the tourist traffic. To provide for that, they should settle down to provide the necessary accommodation when the tour-; ists came. They could not do that all at once, hut tt would he accomplished in a few vears.