Noumea, Too, Has

Brake On

Tourist Trade

Noumea, Too, Has Hotel Bottleneck

A USTRALIA’S nearest and most- A accessible “foreign” country is New Caledonia, and with little effort on the publicity side in the Commonwealth, a much greater flow of tourists could be directed that way. However, there is little tourist publicity for the French Colony in Australid possibly because New Caledonia is aware that she cannot provide hotel accommodation for those who do go there now, without any urging.

A despatch from our Noumea correspondent on August 1 gives some idea of the hotel bottleneck, in that centre: VfOUMEA’S inability to handle a tourist accommodation emerg ency was illustrated graphically aver last week-end with the arrival here of Sir Gordon Taylor’s party Df flying-boat tourists from Tahiti in their way back to Australia. Few rooms were available in hotels, and it was only by the good-will of several private citizens, and the courtesy of the Messageries Mari bimes in placing some 15 cabins of the liner Tahitien at the disposal of the tourists, that the party was finally bedded down comfortably.

Even at that, it is rumoured that Sir Gordon had to sleep aboard his flying-boat.

Comments amongst the tourists were acid.

The arrival of an Ansett flying boat heading for Tahiti with Aus tralian tourists on the day of the departure of Sir Gordon Taylor’s party, further aggravated the posi tion.

Noumea cannot provide first-class accommodation for all the tourists wishing to visit the island.

At a recent press conference in Noumea, the head of the Govern ment tourist organisation from Paris stated that a big first-class hotel must be built here. But characteristically he did not state where the capital was to be found.

It has been rumoured that more than one hotel owner here is trying to interest Australian capital in hotels, but building costs are so terrific here there is little chance that Australians would be interested in investing in an hotel.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Australia can not find enough capital to build tourist hotels in Australia, let alone in New Caledonia. Australians have been hoping that some American interests would build Australia some hotels', but nothing has come of it.

Fiji suffers from the same kind of

pipe-dreams. In fact, every country in South Pacific hopes that some one else will come in and painlessly relieve it of its hotel worries. It seems doubtful that anyone will ; eventually the countries themselves will have to do something about it, or fail to gain the full benefit of tourist money.

Like Paris—But Without

the Concierge

MR. Jean Brock, of French Pacific Tours, has done something about his own company’s accom modation worries in Noumea. He had acquired two floors of the modern Ademanni building in the heart of Noumea. These two floors

contain 14 self-contained flats and should put an end to the worries of Mr. Brock’s tourists.

Each flat consists of a large bed sittmgroom, kitchenette, bathroom and balcony. The building overlooks Coconut Square in the heart of the busy town and is close to hotels and restaurants.

The flats will be available from September. There is a laundry ser vice and a caretaker to look after tourist’s requirements.

It was rumoured that Mr. Brock was to ins t a 1 a real, Parisian concierge but this genus being very rare, seldom living in captivity away from Paris, it is thought that just an ordinary, efficient, bi-lingual caretaker will have to do.