WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 17 January 1927, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE TOURIST DEPARTMENT

•• BEHIND THE TIMES." (Special to " Guardian.”) WELLINGTON, January 11. Tho Auckland Tourist League., whoso achievements so far have been less conspicuous than its good intentions devoted its holiday bulletin to a, I rank criticism of the Tourist Department and so rendered a very real service to the community at large. The burden of the Longue's complaint is that ttie Department is " behind the times," that it lacks energy and initiative and that it has forgotten the purposes for which it was instituted. "Just take one instance of the Department’s attitude." a paragraph of the bulletin runs

" For years the only resort that paid, and that handsomely, was the Waitomo Caves Hostel. Yet here the rule was that visitors could stay only one night, and then they had to move on. Fancy one running a business on these lines and expecting it to pay! Alter many delays it looks as though the muchneeded extensions at Waitomo will be put through. At our leading resort, Rotorua, a number of the bath buildings are in a disgraceful state. ’ The League points to the fact that though Cloo,ooo was spent on the representation of the Dominion at the Wembley Exhibition and many odd thousands on other attempts at publicity, the money was as good as thrown away by the Department’s inability to grasp its opportunities and to turn them to account.

SALESMANSHIP. The truth of the whole matter is that during,the last decade or so there has been no driving force behind the Department. Even before the war Ministers had begun to regard it as a superfluous cog iu the administrative, machine. The Railway Department had set up its own hooking offices in the large cities, a Publicity Department had undertaken the advertising of the Dominion’s scenic attractions 1 , and the under-secretary of the Internal Affairs Department had been appointed official guide and adviser to distinguished visitors travelling through the country. The Tourist Department still supplies information tif trnvellors who seek its assistance, and under tho present manager it is courteous and helpful to inquirers. Rut by its rules mul regulations, tho activities of its State rivals, and the indifference of Ministers and Parliament it is reduced to a condition of suspended animation. "New methods are needed," as the Tourist League puts it, "and the Department should have an outside agent attached to each of its main branches to do direct canvassing and hooking. Nowadays publicity must he followed by salesmanship.” Hero rests the very essence of the whole problem. Neither the Railway Department nor the Publicity Department is doing the work tlho Tourist Department 1 should be doing. The distinguished visitors may be left to the. Internal Affairs Department without harm. Rut salesmanship, more salesmanship and still more salesmanship is the slogan to which the Tourist Department should he giving effect.

THE MANAGER IN REPLY. Tu a letter addressed to the “Dominion” this morning. M.r B. M. Wilson, the general manager of the Tourist Department replies to the criticism of the Auckland Tourist League, which, lie says, reached from a certain Mr White of Mount' Eden. Mr Wilson had replied to Mr White before he saw the bulletin in print, in the bone, as he told his correspondent, that wliat ho had to say would tend to the welfareof his soul and understanding. “ The bald fact that the Department started a booking system from zero in 1911, and that last year cash takings amounted to £154,880,” The manager tells Mr V> ...te, “is a sufficient refutation of tlie allegation that the New Zealand public, as well as the outside visitors, have not been utilising its services in continually • increasing numbers, since its inception. Regarding advertising, between the Tourist. Publicity, Industries and Commerce and Railway Departments, some £90,800 was spent in advertising New Zealand resorts last year, and I venture to say that there is no other country in the world, taking into consideration its distance from the large centres of population, the time it lias been settled, and the size of its own population, that has done so much publicity work. T know of no other country where this work is done by the State instead of by private enterprise.” Here, Mr Wilson has misunderstood the contentions of his cl itic. It is not in advertising the Department has failed, hut in salesmanship.

TESTIMONIALS. The Department, however, is dearly entitled to publicity for its testimon(inis. “ Your statement that ibo TourI ist Department’s system is behind the times.” the manager writes to the Department’s critic, •' is absurd, as it lias been copied by numerous other countries. Not longer than three months ago, Sir W. Hoy, of tho South African Railways, • wrote for particulars of the Tourist Department’s booking system, which appeared to him one of the most complete in the world. The Dean of Harvard University also stated that in his travels throughout the world lie I had never seen its equal. Scores of testimonials from other world-wide travellers can he seen on the subject. Every mail from America brings us a large sheaf of correspondence from such firms as the American Express Company, Raymond Whitcombe, etc. and you should he able to see by the large number of visitors coming hero under the auspices of these firms and Cook and Son how our American business is booming. I dp not rush into print with these letters when received, hut they come all the same.” Again the point made l>v the critic is missed. Neither the Auckland Tourist League nor Mr White—which it may lie—finds fault with what the' Department is doing but points ont what it is leaving undone.