The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1934. TOURIST TRAFFIC

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 218, 14 September 1934, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1934. TOURIST TRAFFIC

THE last century saw the development of the week-end habit; but this eentury has witnessed the development of the worldend habit. More people in the future are likely to take on the world-end haibit, and it is as well to be alive to that fact. New Zealand is now casting round for further means of paying her bills. The bills are, indeed, heavy, and have been allowed to accumulate on the basis that the future cannot only take care of itself, but it can also take care of the present as well. If the use of public credit and public spending were the sure road to prosperity that some people even now fondly imagine, then New Zealand would be a world-renowned el dorado. The same people who believe in the organisation of public credit, strangely enough, seem to be particularly dissatisfied with present conditions. That, however, is by the way. There is no ground for believing that a further extension of the use of public credit will bring about anything more than a temporary fillip to trade which would last so long as the money is available to be spent. Salvation, therefore, seems to lie in a direction other than in increasing the pieces of available paper for circulation. What is wanted is another avenue of producing wealth. This avenue can only be discovered by searching out the demands that are already in existence and those that are likely to expand, and then finding ways and means of supplying those demands. In his speech at Kaitoke the GovernorGeneral stressed the fact that the development ’■of the tourist traffic provided the best opening for this Dominion to increase its income. The fault of the Dominion’s economy up to the present is that it is too narrow, being confined to the production of foodstuffs and wool and a few ancillary lines. But in a world that is tariff and quota ridden there is considerable difficulty in enlarging the range of products that can be exported; and, therefore, it is but logical to enquire whether New Zealand can offer not goods, but services. Nature has endowed New Zealand with a wide variety of natural attractions, and much more could be made of these if money, time and thought were devoted to them. Much has already been done and, perhaps, for the means that have been placed at the disposal of the Tourist Department, it can be said that good results have been achieved. But a still greater effort is required. One of the difficulties which confronts any Government, however, is that the tourist traffic does not directly benefit all of the people, and therefore, were the tourist vote to be considerably enlarged, misunderstandings would arise and the tourist vote would become unpopular. To avoid this unpopularity, presumably, the vote has had to be kept within restrictive limits. Now there are certain agencies which benefit immediately and directly from any increase in the tourist traffic. The hotels which cater for tourists, the shipping companies, the Railways Department, and the Road Transport Companies are all immediately concerned, and their assistance and support should be enlisted in a co-ordinated effort. The work done by the National Travel Association of Australia should indicate what could be done in New Zealand, and its constitution should provide a guide for any similar movement which may be initiated. If the various agencies which are now working separately, and without co-ordination, were to be brought into one ♦systematised organisation with a well-thought-out policy, there is very good reason to believe that a larger grant from the Government would become possible and much more would be accomplished in the way of bringing many more tourists to New' Zealand and satisfying them when they are here.