TOURIST TRAFFIC

Hokitika Guardian, 24 November 1928, Page 6

TOURIST TRAFFIC

FURTHER I NCR ’.‘l. EXPECTED

CHRISTCHURCH, November 23

Last season the Tourist Department had a record one all round, and there is every indication of a further increae this year. The Christchurch branch is now getting very busy arranging tours for the coining suim mer. All resorts, are receiving a fair share of patronage and some are even now lullv booked up for Christmas week.

The opening of the Milford Track has this year been delayed by one month as the new hostel at the .Sound could not be got ready before December ]. This new house will fill a longfelt want and will enable visitors to stay over at Milford as long as they may desire. The steamer Tawera, which conveys tourists over the forty mile trip on Lake Te Anau to Glade House, lias been re-conditioned and oil engines have been installed in place of steam. This, it is expected, will enable the steamer to cut at least two hours off the time taken from To Anau to Glade House. Two new companies have been formed in Southland to run passenger steamers from the Bluff to Milford Sound, calling at the. many

sounds on the south-west coast en route. This should prove a popular trip and will enable tourists to leave the ship at Milford, do the Milford Track walk and return overland, a very fine round trip. Messrs Sullivan Bros, have recently completed a very fine hostel at Fox Glacier, twenty miles further south than Wailio. A new scheme lias been initiated by the Tourist Department branches in Sydney and Melbourne in that the officers in these cities now have two outside men, whose duty it is to lecture, show slides, and generally advertise the Dominion. These officers also call on prospective visitors to the Dominion and help them in any way that they can with their trip. It is expected that this scheme will in time result in a profitable return to the Dominion. Mr L. J. Bayfield, officer in charge of the Christchurch branch, predicts a still further increase in overseas tourist traffic this coming season,' provided New Zealand is free from industrial troubles, epidemics, etc. factors which have an important bearing on the tourist traffic.