THE TOURIST TRAFFIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25386, 18 November 1943, Page 6

THE TOURIST TRAFFIC

Sir,—As an organisation which has been endeavouring for many years to forward the claims of Otago, the Otago Expansion League has made an extensive study of the tourist traffic, and in the course of this work has been in constant cooperation with the work of the Government Tourist Department. Either your correspondent, Mr W. J. Bardsley, has overlooked the main difficulty in the way of increasing the tourist traffic to the South Island or has not taken the trouble to obtain the information available. For obvious reasons the Tourist Department, and incidentally the league, has not been able to publish literature since the outbreak of war, but the latest publications issued in pre-war years treated the South Island quite as generously as the North Island. The department in its advertising campaign has two distinct purposes to serve. The first and major requirement is the advertising, both overseas and internally, of New Zealand’s scenic and other attractions. A perusal of such publications as “ New Zealand — Scenic Playground of the Pacific (1936),” “ New Zealand—Cities, Homes, and Gardens,” “New Zealand—The Dominion of Diversity,” “ Highlights of the South Island," and numerous other publicatiqns will convince anyone that the Dominion is attractively presented, both islands re--ceiving fair treatment. Secondly, those hotels and hostels owned by the department require advertising the same as any private business, and small leaflets are produced advertising these particular places. Admittedly the department has money invested in Rotorua and Waitomo, but Mr Bardsley does not mention the fact that it also has money invested at the Hermitage, at Queenstown, at Lake Te Anau, and at Milford Sound—all South Island resorts. The department made this information available to the representative of the Chamber of Commerce just prior to the recent conference .emphasising that it recognised the excellence of the South Island scenery, and intended after the cessation of hostilities to provide accommodation at all key points—hotels or hostels where possible. But all those who have really studied the problem realise that for years the greatest obstacle in the way of the South Island participating to a greater extent in the overseas tourist traffic has been the lack of modem overseas shipping or air connections to and from the South Island. Hundreds of American and British visitors landing in Auckland have made arrangements for their return before leaving their home country to connect with a vessel at Auckland or Wellington seven or ten days later.

If there was a modern service available from a South Island port at which they could embark, the majority of these tourists would then be able to come south. The desirability of spending more time in the Dominion in order that both islands may be visited is stressed in the booklet " New Zealand —The Dominion of Diversity,” and in all the suggested itineraries in that book the major portion of the time is allotted to the South Island. For years the Expansion League has concentrated upon an endeavour to improve the facilities available to tourists when they dc arrive and in furthering the demands for adequate and modern overseas connections for the South Island connections, which in the opinion of the league would solve not only the problem of tourist traffic but many other problems as well.

The remits approved by the Chamber of Commerce, first, to bring pressure to bear on the Government to give equal publicity to the South Island with that of the North, and secondly, to urge the Government to complete the Pass road, were pointless, as both these matters have long since been brought to the final stages after many years of insistent representation by the Expansion League. Regarding the coloured films, anyone with experience of photography will understand that the cost of colour work in comparison with the ordinary film is extremely high, particularly when it is realised that at present -one colour film only is produced from each negative, while as many copies as desired can be produced from ordinary negatives. Cost, distribution, and coverage ,are factors, therefore, which must be taken into consideration.—l ant, etc., H. M. Mac Kay. Dunedin, November 17.