Tourists

No Room For

Acute Shortage of Hotel Accommodation in Suva

SUVA. Julv 19.

WHEN the NZNAC Sunderland brought 21 passengers from Auckland to Suva on July 17, and an NZNAC Douglas brought 17 from Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Group, and yet more people arrived in a Qantas plane from Australia, the authorities concerned looked des perately round for somewhere to put them.

Some were accommodated at the Laucala Bay air base; a few were pushed irlto private houses; and others found temporary berths aboard a ship in port.

While in Suva, the Auckland pro vincial hockey team—due to sail for home in the Matua on July 20—has been quartered at the clubrooms of the United Improvement Association, which will also shelter the Maori representative Rugby team which will arrive on July 21.

This illustrates Suva’s critical shortage of hotel accommodation, which is caused largely by the great many tenacious “per manents” in the hotels who cannot get alternative accommodation.

It is becoming a commonplace for people who book in at hotels without fix ing a period for their stay, to have to move out to the country to make room for previously booked-in arrivals.

Usually accommodation can be found at country hotels and the Tourist Officer at Nadi Airport is busily heading off arrivals with the advice that they must spend at least a few days touring the western and northern districts until accommodation can be found for them in Suva.

On July 16, the Tourist Bureau stated: “The principal need in Suva apparently is not to attract tourists but to try to accommodate those who arrive. A sur vey made yesterday and to-day shows that in Suva hotels not a single bed was available.”