1955: An Increased Tourist Industry

January 22, 2021

By AHNZ

Philip Holloway was born in Hokitika, son of an Anglican parson. He became a MHR and served as a Minister in Labour 2.0. Prior to that, Phil had this to say about boosting tourism in New Zealand…

“I doubt if the country is ready or has the right knowledge of what an increased tourist industry would mean to New Zealand. I do not believe the people of New Zealand want to be put in a position where they are going to spend their lives giving service to people coming here merely to enjoy themselves”– Labour MP Phil Holloway¹

At the time, National 1.0 was busy wresting political control over the tourist industry (and hotels in particular) into their own hands. Their Opposition hated it but couldn’t stop it.

‘One wonders what Holloway would make of NZ tourism today with over 3 million overseas visitors, 600 hotels, and some $11.8 billion in export earnings’ wrote one historian in 2017.

I reckon he’d be delighted with what Labour 6.0 have managed to do with the COVID-19 Crisis to get things back to the way Phil liked them!

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1 Ref. Labour MP Phil Holloway, Second Reading of the Tourist Hotel Corporation Bill; Ref. In Search of Consensus: A History of Employment Relations in the New Zeal and Hotel Sector – 1955 to 2000, D Williamson thesis (2000)

Note: the Tourist Hotel Corporation Act was given royal assent on 26 October 1955

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