A Tourist Cinderella

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 761, 6 September 1929, Page 8

A Tourist Cinderella

America “Discovers” New Zealand

IT is humiliating to New Zealanders to learn liow little of their country is known in foreign lands, notably _ the * United States, where a better geographical education might be expected. Some day America will “discover” New Zealand, just as she lias discovered her own State of Florida which, until quite recently was the Cinderella of the Atlantic States.

Most Americans have a very liazy idea o£ where New Zealand is situatecl; some of them, in fact, seem scarcely to have heard of it. Bismarck once defined a French diplomatist as a man whose breast was ablaze with decorations and who was ignorant of geography; more than one prominent American might almost be included in the same category, His only idea of New Zealand might be summed*up ill the following stanza of Burns: She lay like some unkenned-of isle Beside New Holian’ Or where wild-meeting: oceans boil Besouth Magellan. A recent American . visitor has stressed the fact that the Western States (especially California) tend more and more to become the home of the wealthy and leisured class of his countrymen. But Los Angeles is no further from New Zealand than from London —the distance being about 6,000 miles in each case. The advent of the airplane is certain to revolutionise the tourist traffic of the Pacific. It is true, our ocean is twice as wide as the Atlantic, but it has the advantage of being studded with numerous islands which form convenient stepping stones by the way—the want of which has been a great drawback to a transatlantic aerial service. For some years past a French company has maintained a regular aerial service between Paris and Buenos Aires, a distance of fully 6,000 miles. BOOM AT RESORTS The large volume of American foreign tourist traffic is not generally realised, and it tends to increase annually. This is shown by the fact that in the principal American magazines, many pages are devoted to elaborate advertising by steamship lines and tourist agencies, of Europe, Hawaii, Palestine, South America, the West I-ndies, the Far East, and other countries —in fact of almost every country except New Zealand. Foreign Governments also spare no expense to attract American travellers. For example, in Cuba, which attracts many American tourists during the winter, a police force in special uniform and able to speak English, is provided in Havana for the benefit of the Anglo-Saxon tourist, while splendid hotels in that city now cater to his needs. Hotel accommodation of a very superior class is demanded by the American traveller. The genial climate of California, which is well advertised, has resulted

in increasing the population of that State more than the gold discoveries. Thus, the population of Los Angeles has gone from 576,673 in 1920 to 1,269,680 in 1926, an increase of 120 per cent. The seaside resort of Long Beach, 20 miles distant, has increased in the same brief period from 55,593 to 144,541, or 160 per cent. In Florida, where the main attractions are the genial climate and deepsea fishing—attractions which New Zealand can also oiler —the increase in population of the seaside resorts has been equally notable, Miami having grown from a mere village to a city of 156,000 inhabitants in a very few years. The boom in South Florida was quite sudden and rapid in its development. New Zealand only requires to be well advertised In America to obtain similar results. FLORIDA TRANSFORMED When the writer visited South Florida about 40 years ago, it was—and continued to be for many years afterward^ —little better than a waste of pine trees and sand, without a single town larger than a small village, except Key West. In California, several societies make a specialty of advertising the country and attracting tourists of a desirable class. Of these, two of the most notable are the Californian Incorporation of San Francisco, and the Allyear Club of Los Angeles. These, supplemented by the services of the local chambers of commerce, are said to have achieved astounding results. In Southern California, It is estimated that £34,600,000- —pounds, not dollars -—was spent by tourists in that section of the State alone in 1926. The cost of community advertising amounted to only about Is for each £25 spent by the tourist. The establishment of such an institution as the International Sportsmen’s Club, London, would do much in this respect. It is said that the first 502 members of that club were all wealthy Americans. It exists specially for the purpose of giving advice and assistance to the foreign visiting sports-' man. When America some day “discovers” New Zealand, just as she has discovered her own State of Florida, we may hope for a boom comparable to that of South Florida. But this result will be hastened if New Zealand shows a proper appreciation of the value of propaganda and self-advertising, studying and adopting the methods which have been so successful in California. JOHN D. LECKIE.