TOURIST SEASON

Southland Times, Issue 23310, 21 September 1937, Page 8

TOURIST SEASON

Heavy Reservations Already ANXIETY OVER HOTEL ACCOMMODATION (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, September 20. According to the Tourist Department and travel agencies everything points to a bumper year for visits by tourists, reservations already being heavier than usual, but underlying their enthusiasm is the anxiety whether, at times, hotel accommodation will be adequate. Already several tourist houses are fully booked for Christmas at Rotorua. One or two at Napier are in the same position as well as quite a few at Queenstown. Reservations by tourists with the Tourist Department are heavier than they have been for years at this period of the season. It will be remembered that although last season the tourist season was heavy, the laying up of the Matson liners from December because of the western Pacific maritime strike stopped the stream of American tourists at a time when hotel accommodation might have proved inadequate in many places. Hitherto summer visitors are mostly American, British and Australian but in the impending season, through the operations of the South Pacific Line from the East Indies with two vessels, the Maetsuycker and the Van Rees, there will be a large influx of Dutch tourists. The Tourist Department has also made reservations through its London office with Dutch tourists. Then there are two German passenger cruises about Easter. “We have many more reservations in hand than we had at a time much later last year than the present period,” said the manager of Cooks’ Tours. Australian bookings were very heavy, a feature being that so far there were more from Western Australia and Queensland than any of the other Australian states.