THE TOURIST SEASON.

Otago Witness, Issue 3994, 30 September 1930, Page 30

THE TOURIST SEASON.

VISITORS FROM AUSTRALIA.

EREE STEAMER FARES. M ELLINGTON, September 25. Free steamer fares will be granted, under certain conditions during October and November by the Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand, Ltd., to Australians who wish to spend a holiday travelling in the Dominion. Instructions for publicity in the Commonwealth were sent to-day by cable, and an extensive advertising campaign is to be started there immediately. The company, has the co-opcration of the Government Touiist Department, which has undertaken to look after the booking in Australia, and it is hoped that the new scheme will be successful as well as beneficial to the Dominion.

The plan was announced to-day by Mr. H. Coxhead, of Timaru,* secretary of the Mount Cook Company and of the Tongariro Park Tourist Company, Ltd, Arrangements bad been made, he said, whereby intending New Zealand tourists would be offered free steamer passages to New Zealand. The company was paying these steamer fares, realising that traffic from Australia was going to be slacker this year than previously' and it was felt that by means of the scheme -the numbers during the coming season would be maintained at their ordinary level.

Australian tourists, Mr Coxhead explained, came to New Zealand mainly in the summer season. The plan was a timely one, he said. Single fares would be paid if a certain percentage of the tourists’ expenses was spent in New Zealand with the company, and if a higher figuie was spent the company would pay the return fares. Apart from this, the people were free to plan their own itinera ary and go anywhere in New Zealand. Free passages on these conditions would be obtainable until the end of November, although, if the scheme were a success, it would probably be extended right through the season.

“ This means that the whole of NewZealand will be benefited by the plan,” said Mr Coxhead. Although the New Zealand Government had been doing a considerable amount of good with its new booking office in Sydney and with an excellent advertising campaign, said Mr Coxhead, New Zealand had not been getting the tourists from Australia that places like Java and Honolulu were attracting. This new scheme should draw the attention of the Australian travelling public to New Zealand as a tourist resort.

Mr Coxhead went on to deal with tourist conditions in New Zealand from the point of view of the companies he represents. *M c find that there is a growing tendency in New Zealand,” he said, “ for the development of winter sports. More people are being attracted by them every day. The Chateau, which is a new venture in a chain of hotels in New Zealand. had as many as 345 people staying there on a single night. With the new motor road completed to Scoria Flat it will bring ski-ing grounds within reach during the whole of the winter. The Hermitage, too, at Mount Cook, is a busy place. The motor road to the Ball hut and the Tasman Glacier allowed the skiers to get out on to the 12,000 acres of ski-ing ground with the least possible inconvenience. Although the Chateau is very centrally situated in the North Island, the Hermitage will, in my opinion, always be the main centre for winter sports in New Zealand. The depression is naturally going to have an effect, but people are already making their arrangements for Christmas, and our resorts are steadily being booked up for the coming season.”