Pages tagged with: tourism

From the late 19th century the expanding rail network opened up exciting leisure and tourism opportunities for ordinary New Zealand families. New Zealand Railways promoted rail holidays through bright, attractive posters and its own popular monthly magazine.

Even before systematic colonisation began in 1840, New Zealand had been promoted in British publications as a wild, scenic, romantic wonderland – and a place of extremes.

As a modern society began to evolve in New Zealand in the early twentieth century, a new concept of 'leisure time' began to emerge

Air New Zealand promoted its sightseeing flights with the slogan 'Antarctica: the new adventure'.

From the early days of rail, excursion and special trains gave people new opportunities to visit beaches, lakes, parks, racecourses and shows.

For most second-class travellers, travelling the main trunk meant a long, sleepless journey on hard-backed seats, struggling to find 'elusive comfort with the NZR pillow'.

The Erebus disaster was mainly caused by an unfortunate, late change in flight path and the white-out conditions at Antarctica.

As well as day excursions, from the mid-1890s New Zealand Railways offered special deals for travellers taking longer rail journeys over the Christmas and Easter holiday periods.

In 1920 New Zealand Railways established it own Railways Studios – the country’s first outdoor advertising studio. The studios produced posters, pamphlets, maps and pictorial postage stamps promoting the services of New Zealand Railways.

This romantic view of Lake Taupo shows what is now part of the Tongariro National Park and a World Heritage Cultural Landscape.

During the inter-war years no other monthly magazine matched New Zealand Railways for its commitment to promoting a popular literary culture in New Zealand.

In 1890 when the kauri timber industry threatened to wipe out Northland kauri forest, 3.34 hectares were set aside by the government, and James Trounson, an early settler, added 386 hectares.

John Barr Hoyte produced this sketch in the 1870s at a time when few Europeans visited Lake Waikaremoana.

Frying-pan Crater at Waimangu erupted so violently in 1917 that it destroyed the tourist accommodation.

The Waitomo Caves were reserved in 1906, and they remain a major and significant tourist attraction.

The main trunk provided a boost to New Zealand's fledgling tourist industry, including the Chateau Tongariro, which opened in 1929. As this poster proclaims, the Chateau was 'Best reached by rail'.

The Whanganui River was developing a reputation as 'the Rhine of the Pacific' by the late 19th century.

After the peak years of the 1920s and late 1930s, tourist travel all but ceased during the Second World War.

When Charles Blomfield painted the Pink Terraces they were already long gone.

James Anthony Froude, an English historian and travel writer, drew the White Terraces a year before they were destroyed.

Poster promoting the South Island train service

Images from the Air New Zealand booklet. 'The Antarctic Experience'.

In this page from Air New Zealand's The Antarctic experience brochure, Mt Erebus – the 'sentinel of McMurdo' – is clearly visible from the DC-10's cockpit.

Stylised ‘bathing belles’ and other images of women figured prominently in inter-war railway advertising.

This 1948 advertisement was one of hundreds of eye-catching posters, pamphlets and maps produced by the Railways Studios and publicity branch.

This 1923 New Zealand Railways poster offers a four-week Tourist Ticket for each island for £10 (around $810 in today’s money) or a seven-week nationwide pass for £16 5s (around $1,300 nowadays).

The future of National Park station was affected by the threatened closure of the Overlander service in 2006.

Since the 1990s the TranzAlpine service, which traverses the spectacular Southern Alps between Christchurch and Greymouth, has become a popular tourist venture.

Travellers queue to buy tickets at the Rotorua railway station booking office in the early 1930s. The inter-war years were the heyday of rail tourism in New Zealand. The office is decorated with posters and maps advertising rail trips, and it also includes a Government Tourist Bureau kiosk.

The establishment of scenic reserves along highways was to return great benefit for the travelling public once the motor car became more widely available in the 1950s and 1960s. Morere Springs Scenic Reserve is a well-known example.

Premier Seddon visits the terminal face of Franz Josef Glacier in 1905. Seddon was an avowed imperialist and was anxious to promote New Zealand's beauty and identity to the world.

The Union Steam Ship Company operated tours to Milford Sound from 1878.

Map showing main tourism routes in 1902

Thomas Edward Donne became secretary of the new Department of Tourist and Health Resorts in 1901. He enthusiastically supported his minister, Joseph Ward, in tourism promotion. He served as a member of the Scenery Preservation Board and the Tongariro National Park Board.

Two American privates partner two women from the New Zealand Defence Forces on an Easter trip to Orakei Korako