Seeing Their Own Country

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 241, 31 December 1927, Page 1

Seeing Their Own Country

RECORD TOURIST YEAR BIG AUSTRALIAN INCREASE The advice, “New Zealanders, see your own country first,” has had its effect. Never before has the Auckland Tourist Office had such a busy holiday season, directing and advising travellers about their trips and tours. For several days before Christmas the staff worked until the early hours of the morning, attending to correspondence and business. Even now th« rush of inquiries has not ceased. The coming year promises to be e good one. Already Mr. J. W. Clarke district manager of the Aucklanc Government Tourist Office, has received letters of inquiry- from peopU as far afield as the Straits Settlement China. India, Germany, Java and Italy These are quite apart from the many inquries from England and Australia This year has been remarkable for the number of Australians who have visited, and are visiting New Zealand. The Melbourne and Sydney offices have done their work well and in consequence the Australians are coming to New Zealand in much larger numbers. There has also been a larger proper tlon of English visitors, though Australia holds the record. American! have fallen away in numbers. “This year,” said Mr. Clarke, “there have been more inquiries from New Zealanders for the distant parts of the Dominion. Many Aucklanders have gone further afield. We have sent quite a large number of people te Stewart Island —more than ever before. Many have gone to Queenstown the Southern Lakes and the MilforC Track. Franz Josef Glacier, on the West Coast of the South Island, ii becoming more and more popular witl residents of the North Island. Mourn Cook has attracted many of the visitors from overseas as well as our owi residents. Inquiries from overseas people were largely for Rotorua. the Waitomo Caves and the Wanganui River in the North Island, and Mount Cook, the Franz Josef Glacier and the Buller Gorge and Otira in the South. Other holiday resorts which have increased in popularity this year are Russell and Whangaroa, in the north. The Waipoua Kauri forests, beyond Dargaville, have also drawn many visitors, including some from overseas who have been studying New Zealand and its scenic attractions. New Zealanders themselves are showing a keener desire to get to the lesser known parts of the Dominion, and many have inquired about the track from Ruatahuna to Lake Waikaremoana. Evidently the “boosting” which has been done by the Tourist Department is having its effect, both in New Zealand and abroad. Overseas visitors, particularly those who come via Australia, display cone siderable knowledge in the tourist resorts of the Dominion. Mr. Clarke thinks that this is due to the fact that information is gathered from the New Zealand offices in Sydney and Melbourne. where the tourists have callef on their way through.