HEAVY BOOKINGS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 77, Issue 6974, 6 October 1948, Page 11

HEAVY BOOKINGS

NEW ZEALAND TOURIST RESORTS INFLUX OF OVERSEAS TRAVELLERS BEGINNING All main tourist resorts in New Zealand have been almost completely booked out for Christmas and the New Ye,ar. Most holiday-makers began concentrated bookings about three months ago. Little accommodation has been available in the last six weeks. Commenting on a report that all South Island resorts had been fully booked, the manager of the. Tourist Bureau in Wellington, Mr A. G. Christie, said recently: “It’s the same story throughout New Zealand. “The only chance of accommodation at resorts for those people who have not booked is through cancellations.” He said that some may be able to get rooms, but the chances were very remote. South Island bookings are particularly heavy at the Glaciers. There is little chance of getting accommodation at any of the main resorts, including Mt. Cook, the Franz JoseX and Fox Glaciers, Queenstown, Te Anau and Stewart Island. All resorts in the north such as the Chateau Tongariro, Rotorua, Napier, New Plymouth, North Auckland, and Mt. Maunganui at Tauranga are extensively booked, though holidaymakers’ chances may be better than in the South Island. Australian Visitors It is expected that the coming season will be particularly busy. Mr Christie said that a number of tentative arrangements had been made for groups of Australian tourists to visit New Zealand. A party of Australian bowlers and tw<o groups of farmers might arrive in the Dominion for Christmas. The farmers’ parties would come from Victoria and South Australia. So far, said Mr Christie, there had been no definite reaction to the appreciation of New Zealand currency. He thought that some Australians might cancel trips to the Dominion. • Though a tour by an Australian now cost about £2 10s a day instead of £2, Mr Christie said cost was not the only consideration. Boat or plane expenses to New Zealand mean an additional 25 per cent. Questioned on the. possibility of overseas visitors coming to the Dominion, from America in particular, Mr Christie said that before the war overseas tourist trade to the Dominion was fairly high. It had lapsed during and since the war, but indications now were that an influx of overseas tourists was beginning.