TOURIST TRAFFIC

Hokitika Guardian, 19 November 1929, Page 3

TOURIST TRAFFIC

A BRIGHT OUTLOOK

DUNEDIN, Nov. 17

Mr A. A. Paa,pe, manager of the Grand Hotel, who has just returned from a seven weeks’ tour of the Commonwealth, says that the prospects are bright for the coming tourist season in both Australia and New Zealand. There was ample indication, he said, from the enquiries which had been made and from early bookings, that a record season could'be expected, and that many of the tourists would be arriving much earlier than usual. These beliefs were also supported, added Mr Paape, by the number of bookings already made in Dunedin.

Speaking of the cost of living in Australia , Mr Pa ape said it was much higher than in New Zealand, except in respect to boots and shoes. Victoria had captured the hoot trade of the Commonwealth, and was turning out an article quite as good as that imported from England. From what he could gather, an income of £9 or £lO a week was required in Sydney or Melbourne to enable a man to live on the same scale as he could on £5 a week in New Zealand. Hotel accommodation was no better than in the Dominion, and the “extras” for which travellers were charged, made it very costly to stay at a good hotel. Mr Paaipe was enthusiastic in his praise of the Chateau Tonguriio, which he said, compared more than favourably with • the new Hotel Alexandra in Melbourne, a,nd was well calculated in bis opinion to give a great impetus to tlie tourist traffic in New Zealand.