Spehding Australiahs

But They Forget Those

• As soon as the Fiji Tourism Convention finished, there was another tourist meeting of sorts in Sydney, which some of the same experts attended. Also there was PlM's JUDY TUDOR, who found that some of the experts in Sydney contradicted things said by some of the experts in Fiji and she didn't agree with some of the other opinions anyway. All of which is a little confusing for anybody trying to find out what state South Pacific tourism is in.

When the big tourist boom hits the Pacific in the early 1970’5, we can expect four times as many visitors as at present.

They will have less money, be poorer educated and stay a shorter period in each country. They will be travelling in parties of up to 200.

It sounds like a dim prospect, especially for those people who liked the Pacific as it once was, but this seems to be the opinion thrown up by a recent survey.

The survey was made by a United States firm, Travel Research Inter national Inc. for Time magazine, National Geographic magazine and Pacific Area Travel Association. Mr.

Stanton Read, a marketing expert and, at present, research director of PATA, who had been making some one-day-stands in a number of Pacific countries, explained the find ings to a large travel group in Sydney on October 30.

Naturally, the emphasis was on Australia as a tourist destination, but a lot of surprising things came out about the rest of the Pacific—or what PIM calls the Pacific. As far as PATA is concerned, the Pacific in

eludes such surprising countries as India and Ceylon and, of course, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singa pore, Malaya and Vietnam.

When Americans think of crossing the Pacific, the meeting was told, they think of going to Japan and Japan is still the favourite destina tion of Americans, apart from Europe.

The survey was conducted by direct interviews with people who had been beyond Hawaii; and by questionnaires. It was based on the emotional factor—what made people choose a Pacific destination in the first place and what they liked or disliked about it when they had been. (Over 40 per cent, said they went on the advice of travel agents; 31 per cent, because of what they had read in travel books).

Four requirements

The four most important factors m satisfying tourists, it was shown, are “warm, friendly people”, “com fortable accommodation”, “beautiful natural scenery” and “reasonable prices”. t Countries that have been going “duty-free” with mad abandon will, no doubt, be interested to know that shopping comes right down near the end of the list of desirable factors.

Lumping the whole of PATA’s Pacific together, upwards of 80 per cent, of those contacted were satisfied with what they had got although they were less apt to recommend it to friends or want to revisit Pacific destinations, than was the case with visitors to European destinations.

In the “would revisit or recom mend” stakes, Australia scored 78 per cent.; Western Samoa a surpris ing 65 per cent.; Tahiti 60 per cent.;

I// tourists aren't r om the US

ji 57 per cent.; and New Caledonia I per cent.

Even more surprising was that jstralia was associated with “warm, endly people” by 71 per cent, of iitors; while Fiji was so associated only 50 per cent. (Hong Kong ired 31 per cent.).

The extent to which Australians J alleged to be warm and friendly American visitors was news to lot of Australian travel experts; )st of those at the Sydney nposium were inclined to take the iluation of Mr. Frank Gaven, rector of the NSW Department of urism, who quoted a recent ex •ience in a NSW country hotel.

He had jumped the gun for break t and while he waited he heard waitress address the manager is: ‘The breakfast is ready to be ved.” ‘Ah,” said the manager. “Bang gong—then round the bastards 99 faking the PATA Pacific as a ole, the things that people didn’t were “dirt and poverty”, “high t of getting there”, “problems h language” and “not enough to Although it was not made clear,

seems likely that dirt-and-poverty

I difficulty with language were re likely to have occurred in the an part of the area covered than ■he South Pacific islands and Aus ia and New Zealand. Nonethe , to sophisticated eyes, suburban urban Australia can look slap h and very often untidy. (Aus ia got 49 per cent, for scenery; 52 per cent.).

Is survey valuable?

low much are surveys of this 1 worth? To begin with, the ings were based on the replies of 1 2,000-odd travellers, all from United States, among the dreds of thousands who visited ific area destinations in 1966-67. left completely out of its j ulations, visitors from other s and these, so far as the Pacific ids are concerned, are of grow importance to the stability of r individual tourist industries. is true that originally most fic tourism was based on the idea ttracting the American dollar and Pacific Area Travel Association this as its main purpose. Terri es like Tahiti, Hawaii, American, I

Airline costs are too high

and probably Western, Samoa must continue to look to the United States for most of its tourists but in recent years a very different picture is emerging in the rest of the South Pacific.

It is the affluent Australian who is giving a shot in the arm to the tourist industries in Fiji and New Caledonia and in this he is helped by the affluent, but much more restricted, New Zealander.

When the tourist industry in Papua-New Guinea gets completely into its stride, again it will be the Australian who will be its backbone.

The same can be said of the British Solomons and the New Hebrides.

Australians and New Zealanders do not “collect” countries merely for the sake of collecting. They stay longer in one place. In Fiji and New Caledonia they tend to go for eight days to two weeks, and to go as individuals or small groups and not large parties. They are also, on

average, younger tourists than those from the United States.

In 1967 the biggest single group of US tourists visiting Fiji were females over the age of 60. In the same year the biggest single group of Australians was male, between the ages of 20 and 29. About 35 per cent, of all Australians visiting Fiji were in the 20 : 49 age group; Ameri cans in the same age group were only 21 per cent, of the total Ameri cans.

Australians good spenders

Although it seems to be the dream of most people running tourist busi nesses to cater exclusively for hordes of American millionaires, places like Fiji are finding that middle-class Australians are good spenders.

Perhaps they aren’t as choosey as Americans, and they also buy with the knowledge that, on the whole, Australian Customs’ officials are pretty lenient with homecoming travellers.

The points made by the Travel Research International survey are valid enough but they tell only part of the story, at least for parts of the

Pacific. If there is any lesson to b: learned from considering all thi factors it probably is that, in thi future, tourism will have to be mor versatile.

It will have to cater for thes short-stay, less monied people whc we are told, will flood into th Pacific on the jumbo-jets; and at th same time still keep a place fc those who want to go leisureh probably more than once, and sta longer.

To a great extent, the promise flood to the Pacific will depend o whether jumbo-jets bring air fan down substantially (and there some talk that they mightn’t con: down at all!) There would be a flood now it weren’t for the high cost of gettir there from North America, and th is not a bad thing. The economii of some of the smaller Pacific ten lories are too precariously balance to withstand mass tourism withoi losing their identity.

Once they have become ju another Nassau or just anothi Acapulco it is too late to turn tl clock back.