TOURIST BUREAU PRAISED

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1934, Page 7

TOURIST BUREAU PRAISED

FRENCH TRAVELLER’S APPROVAL.

NEW ZEALAND’S LICENSING LAWS.

Praise for the New Zealand Government Tourist Bureau, and particularly for its Sydney branch, was expressed by Mr. Alex Lund, Paris, who is visiting Christchurch. Mr. Lund is agent for the famous French perfumery firm of Lentherie, Paris, and travels continuously on his firm’s business, having ’ just completed a tour of the East and Australia. “When I was at Sydney,” he said, “I went to the Sydney office of your tourist department and asked for information about the cost of visiting New Zealand. I called there about 11.30 a.m. By 4 o’clock that afternoon I had received full details about the dealers who handled the type of goods I was interested in, about trade • possibilities, about steamer routes and fares, train fares and hotels, as well as a full itinerary worked out for the time I was prepared to stay. For the first time in ten years I accepted an inclusive tour, and I have been extremely satisfied with the result. - Mr. Lund 'was born in Denmark, has had his headquarters in Paris for the pafet 12 years, but only his headquarters, since he is continually on the move. He travels round the world, returns to Paris, and then sets out round the world again. “It is a pleasant life in a way,” he remarked, “but it gets monotonous. One is always-packing up and unpacking, and though hotels these days are very comfortable one gets tired of living in them.” • • < • . Mr. Lund found two principal objections to New Zealand from the point of view of tourists, and Continental tourists in particular. "The first was the restriction on the hours during which drinks may be bought, and the second was the lack of good, cheap wine. He thinks that New Zealand’s liquor laws 'must seem very inconvenient to the average tourist, who is . accustomed .in England or on the Continent to being able to buy drinks at almost any time up to midnight. ■ ■ • “When you are on a holiday,” he remarked, “you want to be able to enjoy yourself. You do not. want to be bothered by restrictions that you do not understand, and which seem strange and unnecessary. .In New Zealand, too, you have old-fashioned customs about the hours for .meals. Abroad you can dine any time up to 9 p.m-, but here, on Sundays, for example, you cannot get .a meal after about 7 o’clock. . If you want to attract tourists you must conform to their habits a little.”