STRONG CRITICISM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 32 (Supplement)

STRONG CRITICISM.

Standard of Hotels at Tourist Resorts. VISITOR DISGUSTED. Strong criticism of the standard of comfort in hotels at some of the New Zealand tourist resorts was voiced by Mr G. G. Armitage, a Vancouver stockbroker, before leaving for Wellington last evening. Mr Armitage has been touring the Dominion with his wife. Mr Armitage said he had been round the world three times and he had penetrated into many out of the way places, but he had never found hotels described as first-class so poor as he had found in New Zealand. “Your Government is misrepresenting things to tourists,” he declared. “An itinerary is mapped out for us and we are told that we will be booked up at first-class hotels everywhere, but some of the places are absolutely disgraceful. The accommodation at some of the so-called first-class hotels which charge as much as 17s a day is not as good as can be obtained in some of the mining camps in British Columbia for eight dollars a week.” Mr Armitage made it clear that his strictures did not apply to the hotels at which he had stayed in the main centres. His complaint was directed at hotels at some of the tourist resorts where, he considered, there would have to be much better accommodation provided if large numbers of tourists were to be attracted from the United States and Canada. “No Running Water.” One of the main grievances which Mr Armitage has concerning the New Zealand hotels is that comparatively few of them have wash basins with running water in the bedrooms. He declared that the accommodation in this respect was very poor and that the size of the bedrooms was too small. If New Zealand wanted tourists the Government would have to do something about the hotel accommodation, he said. “The Tourist Department in Auckland should have told us that some of the hotels would be only sec-ond-class instead of giving us the impression that we would have good hotels said Mr Armitage. “Because of our experience in this respect we have cut short our visit to the South Island by three days. “When I get back to Vancouver there will be about twenty people waiting to hear what I have to say about New Zealand because they are thinking of coming here themselves and I will have to tell them that the hotels are rotten. That is not going to help your tourist traffic, but I would not be fair to those people if I did not tell them the truth. Some of the hotels are no better than rooming houses at seaside resorts in England.” Mr Armitage suggested that the country roads of New Zealand would be improved if there were wild flowers growing on the sides. He said that if a careful selection of wild flowers was made there would be no danger of them becoming noxious weeds and a nuisance to farmers. When he arrived in New Zealand Mr Armitage hired a motor-car and he has toured over the greater part of the North Island and also the northern half of the South Island. He has nothing but praise for the roads of the Dominion, which, with few exceptions, he found were in good order. He was favourably impressed with practically everything except the hotels.