Tourist Numbers Rise

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31087, 16 June 1966, Page 16

Tourist Numbers Rise

The last year has been a momentous one for the New Zealand tourist industry; the figures show a dramatic increase in the

number of visitors and trends indicate this will be continued in the present year, says the annual report of the New Zealand Travel and Holidays Association which will be presented to the association’s annual travel convention in Christchurch this week-end. Tn the year ended March 31. 153,281 tourists visited New Zealand, compared with 122,288 the previous year, an increase of 25.3 per cent. They were estimated to have spent £11,600,000 in overseas exchange, compared with £10,448,000 the previous year. To this could be added £3.2 million in overseas exchange earned by Air New Zealand.

During the year pure jet aircraft started commercial operation into Christchurch and the new Auckland airport. In spite of the difficulty of raising development finance, hotels and motels are building apace throughout the country, and to a large extent this has been made possible by the Government loans and guarantee scheme for tourist accommodation, the report says. Nearly five pages of the 10page report are devoted to a review of the activities of “Haeremai Year”—a campaign designed to tell Australians that a welcome awaits them in New Zealand, and to remind New Zealanders that a special welcome should be extended to visitors.

The focal point of the cam-

paign has been “Miss Haeremai”, Miss Carol Cunningham, of Auckland.

Posters, newspaper interviews and advertisements, radio and television presentations, displays, Haere-mai envelope seals and signs are all mentioned in the report. Many firms have assisted with the campaign, the report says, and there has been great

co-operation from the Tourist Department, which has more than met its share of the cost of the campaign.

The association acknowledges the annual government grant of £lO,OOO, paid on a £ for £ basis in relation to members’ contributions. Membership throughout New Zealand is now 2211, compared with 2139 last year.