OPPORTUNITY FOR ROTORUA

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 202, 19 April 1932, Page 4

OPPORTUNITY FOR ROTORUA

The future, especially Rotorua's future, is still full of promise and hope. In times such as these, with civil commotion threatening from one end of the island and expenditure adjust- j ment bills menacing us from the other, it is difficult to tear our j minds from contemplation of the problems of the present. A j message such as that conveyed to the people of Rotorua by an j American visitor, Mr. Harley E. Pippin, through the columns of yesterday's issue of the "Post" is therefore at this time of especial value hecause it is both a message of hope and an incentive to effort. "New Zealand, as the real objective of the South Seas tourist, is due to reap a go.lden harvest in the next few years," said Mr. Pippin. He also said that in the mind of the American tourist the terms New Zealand and Rotorua are synonymous. As Mr. Pippin, unlike so many visitors who say kind things to and about New Zealanders and their country, was able to support his views with an account of the activities of the wealthy organisation of which he is the chief executive in New Zealand and Australia, his message has a significance which is almost unique. Quick to appreciate the reasons for a recent marked loss of popularity by Europe as a playground for Americans with money to spend, Mr. Pippin's firm has concentrated its elforts and its financial resources upon diverting their attention to the Pacific and has expended hundreds of thousands of pounds upon the provision of mammoth luxury liners to bring them to the shores of the islapd of the South Seas, including New * Zealand. Having the ships, it must now, as he points out, spend further thousands in order to fill them with passengers, and this "it is doing. Many, no doubt, will regret that it is an American organisation and not a British one which has shown the enterprise and the faith to pioneer large scale tourist traffic to this side of the world. The Doipinion cannot alford, however, to look at the matter in a narrow spirit. Such a move is long overdue and now that it has been initiated it should be welcomed without reservation, if only because of its immense potential value to the whole country. To Rotorua particularly it means the dawn of a new era of prosperity, provided only that the town will take the necessary steps to support and profit by the opportunity. . Mr. Pippin suggests that New Zealand can materially assist his firm's efforts to make "South o.f the Equator" the slogan of the American tourist. The Americans have great faith in the value pf slogans as advertising propaganda,_ and Rotorua might with advantage adopt one for its own private use and guidance in preparing to wclcome those who do make "South of the Equator" the objective of their travel. In discussing the requirements of the Arperican tourist, Mr. Eippip, who, as an American himself , and an ,e?pert:ih tFq fpadq, piay be accepted as a sound judge, made several statements which rather upset some of the Dominion's preconceived ideas. For instance, he said that though the tourist demands luxury afloat, he does so more by way of coippensation for the things he has 0 to go without in the cramped quarters of a ship than for its own sake and that once ashqre, though he appreciates luxury, he does not demand It. ' What he does demand, however, are reasonable comfort, good food, efficient service and fair treatment in the matter of prices. In this list there is nothing which is not equally true o.f the veriest stay-at-home the world over and certainly nothing which New Zealand cannot supply as well as, and perhaps better than, any other papt of the world. All that is needed is to ayoid the grave mistake of looking upon the, tourist as a special dispensation of Providence to be exploited in every possible way, and to treat him as a fellow man, with the same likes and dislikes as ourselves, and with perhaps a few slight dilferences due to natlonal habits and customs. Mri Pippin admits that the present standa-rds of acommodation and service are reasonably high; if the natipnal foibles of our visitors can be discovqred and catered for, ithe successful development of a large and. extremely valuable tourist traffic is assured. The ad1 vantag'es of novelty, beauty and variety are already our. coun- | try's. -All that is needed is to proyide the background of service.