TOURIST BUREAU IN SYDNEY

Southland Times, Issue 23634, 8 October 1938, Page 15

TOURIST BUREAU IN SYDNEY

ENCOURAGEMENT OF TRAFFIC MR RUSSELL EXPRESSES DISAPPOINTMENT ■The , impression, he said, that little was being done by the New Zealand Government Tourist Department in Sydney to encourage tourists to visit the Dominion was gained by Mr A. S. Russell, of Invercargill, during a holiday of several months in Sydney. In an interview with The Southland _ Times -yesterday he said that the activities of the Union Steam Ship Company to secure tourist business appeared to be more enterprising and more successful. , The New Zealand Government’s bureau in Sydney was in an ideal part of the city, but the actual location of the office was not good. The bureau was several feet above street level and did not attraction attention.

“I walked past the office many times before I discovered that it was there and it was not until I made it my business to find the bureau that I finally located it,” he said. “There are two big windows in the building, but because of their height they are not of great value for display purposes. The Union Steam Ship Company has an office nearby and its display is much more effective. Two relief maps of New Zealand are displayed in the windows and the tourist attractions of the Dominion are set out in an attractive fashion.” Mr Russell said he had been disappointed in seeing no publicity for New Zealand throughout two months spent in Sydney. There appeared to be a great deal of wealth about and judicious work in attracting tourists from Australia to New Zealand would probably prove reproductive in bringing business to the Dominion.

Several years ago Mr Russell started an inquiry through the Southland Progress League, of which he is a member of the executive, to ascertain why New Zealand tourist resorts in general and Southland and Stewart Island in particular were not advertised on hoardings displayed in New Zealand railway stations, instead of Empire and foreign countries. The league was then informed that the New Zealand Government had a reciprocal arrangement with the Australian states, other Empire countries and certain foreign countries for the display of posters on Government hoardings ,in return for similar treatment in those countries. During his trip to Australia, he said, he had taken particular notice in railway stations and other places to see if New Zealand was advertised in the Australian states, but he had not managed to find one poster dealing with the Dominion. It appeared that New Zealand was advertising Australian tourist attractions, but was receiving nothing in return. The space in the railways stations, he thought, might be more usefully occupied with posters dealing with the country’s own attractions.