TOURIST TRAFFIC

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26233, 17 August 1946, Page 6

TOURIST TRAFFIC

NO DISCRIMINATION FULL SHARE FOR DUNEDIN A prompt and emphatic denial was given by the district manager of the Tourist Department (Mr R. G. Sincock) yesterday to current reports that the future policy of the department would tend towards the diversion of tourist traffic from Dunedin. Mr Sincock told a Daily Times reporter that Dunedin was at present receiving its full share of tourist traffic in the Dominion, and parties for which the department had made travel arrangements were not only passing through the city, but were spending time here and were being given full opportunities to see the local attractions. Lack of Accommodation Mr Sincock added that he knew of only one case in which a party conducted by the department was not to visit Dunedin. In this case it had been intended that Dunedin should be included in the itinerary, but he had been unable to obtain accommodation at any of the hotels, and as a. result the 25 members of the party, which, which was to assemble in Wellington, would stay at Timaru and Invercargill and would merely have lunch in Dunedin while passing through. It was solely because of the lack of accommodation that the party was not to spend the usual amount of time in the city. “ In the future there will be a large flow of tourists through Dunedin,” Mr Sincock added. He indicated that round tours of the South Island, taking in all the major attractions, would be arranged, and he stated emphatically that at no time had there ever been any intention of eliminating Dunedin from these itineraries. People who spread reports to the contrary did the city a great deal of harm. Direct Shipping Required Mr Sincock recalled that in pre-war years the South Island had lost a great deal of tourist traffic because overseas passenger ships had called only at North Island ports. A large proportion of tourists had remained in the Dominion only until the next sailing of an overseas ship in perhaps seven or eight days. They spent their time in the North Island because it was impossible to rush them round both islands in the space of a week. Those who feared that local interests were suffering, Mr Sincock added, could spend their time better by working for direct shipping to South Island ports. If this could be achieved the South Island would receive more than half of the tourist trade, as tne attractions of the south were a better “draw” than those ,of the north.