IT.—2.
appendices.
APPENDIX A. (EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS OE CONTROLLING OFFICERS.) The Trade and Tourist Commissioner for New Zealand in Australia. " Location of Offices.—The move to ground-floor accommodation in Sydney has proved to be well worth while. The window display spaces have been attractively decorated, and they are an excellent draw. Inquiries about tours and a thousand-and-one other matters are becoming so numerous that it is only with great difficulty that our present staff is able to cope with the callers. " Agents.—ln addition to the agents in the cities and towns mentioned in the 1931 annual report, there are now representatives in Australia in : New South Wales Hay, Albury, Wagga Wagga, Katoomba, and Tamworth ; Queensland —Bowen and Toowoomba ; Victoria Echuca, Seymour, and Horsham. . "In addition, the following agents have been appointed in the East: Lissone-Lmdeman, at Batavia and Sourabaya (Java) ; "'K.P.M. Steamship Co., at Singapore, Samarang, Batavia, Sourabaya, and Macassar ; Boustead and Co., at Singapore ; American Express Co., at Singapore and Penang. " Illustrated Circular Letters.—lt was with great disappointment that we learned that for the 1931-32 season you had been compelled to cancel the despatch of letters similar to those sent out in 1930-31. This was a most effective means of publicity, and we still very often get coupons filled m and sent to us from the people that you circularized almost eighteen months ago. " Newspaper Publicity.—This was done as effectively as funds would permit, but the cancellation at a critical period of a portion of the appropriation for this class of advertising was disturbing. We were very grateful, however, for a somewhat compensating subsequent expenditure that helped us considerably. . , , " General Free Newspaper Publicity.—-We have had quite a fair share of this, more, m tact, tiian most other countries and' very often excellent articles appear in the Saturday s issue of the Sydney Morning Herald which has a circulation of over two hundred thousand. I" Publicity by Shipping Companies. —Competition between the shipping companies trading to New Zealand gave the Dominion quite a lot of publicity in the way of really good newspaper advertisements.' This additional publicity compensated to some extent for our reduced allocation. " General Publicity. —On a number of occasions radio talks from leading Australian stations have been given during the past year. Dozens of lantern lectures have been given to leading organizations not only by our officers, but also by private individuals. Window displays have been made and pictures circulated. , " Exhibitions. —During the year we made displays, free of cost, at the Australian iSushianas Exhibition and at the Advertising Club's Exhibition. Both were attended by many thousands of visitors." The Trade and Tourist Commissioner in Canada and the United States. <e Considerable organizing work has been done in both Canada and the United States, and the distribution of New Zealand publicity material has been considerably widened. Practically every large city with a population of over a million people has been visited and contact made with the chief travel offices. Not merely have the usual comprehensive publications been made available to these offices, but copies of itineraries of internal travel drawn lip by the head office have been supplied and explained to the executive officers. In New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Detroit the leading offices have linked up with the Toronto headquarters of the New Zealand Government. Information and advice is tendered promptly regarding New Zealand's facilities for travel, and internal itineraries are submitted, on request, to these offices for their clients. This personal touch has undoubtedly had the effect of creating interest in New Zealand, and the offices concerned are now much better equipped to deal intelligently and quickly with tourists desiring to go to New Zealand " Judicious advertising, so necessary in these competitive times, has necessarily had to be restricted owing to financial stress in New Zealand, but the importance of displaying the Dominion's tourist attractions by means of enlarged coloured photographs, special tourist maps, posters, sporting trophies, and specimens of Maori handicrafts and clothing has been recognized. This class of material has been used to make colourful and attractive window displays in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Centrally situated shop-windows have been made available without cost in all the cities concerned. This form of advertising is being developed and extended as experience teaches the precise form it should take to meet the interests of particular localities. " The field for exploitation is very large, and, as time permits, attention will be given to cities ranging in population from half a million to a million. " Despite the prevailing conditions, the tourist offices all report a better showing lor the iirst five months of 1932 compared with 1931, and it is fully expected by those who keep in close touch with the tourist trade that during the summer of 1932 and 1933 a distinctly upward trend will be experienced. Interest in travel to the South Pacific is growing greater each succeeding year, and the prospects are enhanced greatly by the provision of new steamers, improved services, and lower fares. Wide publicity has been given to the attractiveness of New Zealand by means of special articles and the issue of folders by the steamship companies concerned. The amount spent by steamship companies during the past twelve months on advertising New Zealand has been greater than for years past.
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