PARLIAMENT

Lake County Mail, Issue 23, 29 October 1947, Page 2

PARLIAMENT

Tourist Accommodation Problem It was imperative that urgent arrangements should be made to provide better accommodation to cope with the increasing tourist traffic in Queenstown and at other resorts, said Mr T. L. Macdonald (National, Wallace), when the Estimates were under consideration in the House of Representatives. Mr Macdonald said the report of the Tourist Department indicated that the previous year accommodation at Queenstown and Wanaka was overtaxed and that the hotel at To Anau had been fully booked. There was an item of £SOOO for new buildings and improvements at Mt. Cook, Te Anau, Milford Sound and Queenstown. The vote was quite inadequate to provide additional accommodation for the tourist traffic. According to the report of the department a great number of people were turned away from Queenstown. Those who did go there were required, in many instances, to sleep in private houses and to go to hotels or restaurants for meals. The ski-ing grounds there were becoming popular during the winter, and the indication was that Queenstown would be crowded the year round. Mr Macdonald asked whether there was any provision for road sealing round about Queenstown. The Minister of Works (Mr Semple): “Yes there is.” Mr Macdonald said that some of the bridges on the road from Upper Hollyford to Milford Sound were distinctly unsafe. Mr Semple: “Nothing is proposed there with the exception of renewing those bridges. I admit it is one of the finest tourist attractions in New Zealand but it will have to wait a while.”