Trippers on the Move

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 230, 17 December 1927, Page 8

Trippers on the Move

HOLIDAY TOURIST TRAFFIC

Busiest of Busy Seasons

OF all the busy offices in Auckland, few are at present busier than the Government Tourist Bureau in Queen Street. In and out moves an unending stream of people, a flock to be shepherded through its holidays, by Tourist Department officers and service, and the magnitude of the business their holidays involve can be gauged by a survey of their requirements.

“pAN you tell me the cheapest way of getting to Tauranga?” The cleric makes a rapid calculation, and the information Is at hand. “Berths for my wife and son, aged eight,” requested a business-like caller. A host of inquiries, commands and entreaties floats upon the air. “When do the reduced fares begin on the trains?” . . . Are you sure this seat has not been double-booked? . . . Tell me, how do I get to Mount Cook?” and so on. > Even under pressure, the harassed staff of the tourist ofiice does not wilt. The business is at its finger-ends, as witness: “Yes, Whangarei is quite nice.” .... “No, madame, the saloon

is booked more heavily than the steerage. Your only chance is to travel earlier.” J-:dged by their limp attitude, some people could never summon the resolution to travel, unless such an organisation was at hand to lend them strength. To accommodate the thousands who will be travelling, hotels and boardinghouses are preparing temporary bedrooms, or are erecting tents. At such places as Rotorua, Taupo. and Wairakei, the accommodation is already practically booked up, but more room is being created by the erection of tents in readiness for the busy season. During that hectic fortnight or three weeks, these places are a picture. In daylight hours the extra bed-

ding is hidden inconspicuously behind doors, but at night, when the house settles down, it comes out so that the surplus holidaymakers may snatch their rest in the passages or the billiard-room. Flashing from end to end of the Dominion are the countless wires of the Tourist Department, addressed and signed “Tourbureau.” and models of informative brevity. “Reserve one room Master Furlough week twentieth. Tourbureau.” That tells its own story to those familiar with the business. Not only the Tourist Department, but also various privately-owned agencies, are interested in the distribution of the tourist traffic. Largest of the locally-represented private concerns is the firm of Thomas Cook and Sons, founded long ago by an Englishman who saw the need for such an institution, after he had met difficulties in arranging a seaside excursion for his children. This and other private organisations are supplementing the Government’s efforts in catering for the requirements of the holiday crowds. RECORDS THREATENED Mr. J. W. Clarke, manager of the Auckland branch of the Tourist office, states that the volume of the season’s business threatens to eclipse all earlier records. Very many inquiries have been received from overseas, and a large number of Australians is expected next week, while Americans, many attracted by the deep-sea fishing, are arriving by the Makura and Niagara on their next trips. Internal travel by New Zealanders themselves is also increasing in volume, and bookings on both railways and service-car systems have been exceptionally heavy. Motor camping is another modern development, that this year should find fuller expression than ever. The camping grounds, set apart by municipalities and automobile associations, are proving very popular, and at Taupo the shore of the lake, in the vicinity of the township, will this Christmas be lined with tents. In spite of the adverse effect of the recent Australian strike, the shipping companies controlling inter-colonial services state that the number of visitors from Australia will be large. Many are bringing their own cars across the Tasman.

An interesting event will be the arrival, by the Maunganui, on Tuesday, of a small party of English tourists spending holidays in New Zealand under the wing of Plckford's Ltd., a well-known English organisation. Having been 300 years in the tourist business, Pickford’s is a firm that carries weight, and the success of its latest enterprise may therefore mean the dispatch to the Dominion of many more parties in later years.