Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-11-16
WINTER TOURISTS
l OFF FOR RESORTS
South and West Looking for
Biggest Rush Ever Known.
Railroads to Profit.
BY j. G. .ROYLE.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

special Dispatch TO The Star.
NEW YORK, November IRE
serve me lower for California" when
can l get accommodations for Florida ?"
such demands and inquiries are flood
Ing railroad ticket offices in the east
and middle west, indicating that the
migration Of the winter tourist has
started. Tourist travel in winter no
longer Is a "class" proposition. About
i'o00 farmers in Iowa alone leave each
month of the winter season for Cali
fornia and about 400 a month go to
FLORIDA. Nor is it longer a 'by prod
uct.' Tourist travel now is regarded as
business by railroads. hotel proprie-
tors and merchants. And the move
ment OF this business gives every
promise of being heavier than ever. and
of lasting longer
Adds Big Revenue,
rms VIII mean added revenue to the
rahroads, 10 the hotels and to mer-
.Liants' both in winter resorts and in
.ne nome towns of the tourists. For
tlaveierS spend freely in preparation for
luggage. ''' anu
me tax which this added business
brings on railroad equipment can be
CS,.IlaHd from the fact that the extra
NhrlsunaS travel last year required the
use OF ESQ Pullman cars above normal
tournaments. while New Years jour
neyS necessitated an additional 900
Pullmans.
oO0.OOO Tourists Expected.
,, Inc five cities handling the largest
volume of winter resort travel are
Sh1cago, New York. Los Angeles. St
. Louis and San Francisco. according
90 prominent Pullman Company Of
nc neia h today A rough guess based
citles indicated that tourist travel
this winter will be - per cent above
That of 1922. which in turn. showed
an ADVANCE of Isl per cent above
IL is estimated that 100000 people
viii visit California and Florida be-
tween December l and April /. The
sreatest burden on the railroads VIII
come In February and March for
wh1le the travellers distribute their
departures over a consider able period
tney all try and get home at about
the same time.
Most Interest since 1916.
All the travel at this time of year
cannot be considered tourist travel.
however. as many men are now going
70 California and Florida on business
An official of the Santa Fe road said
today that inquiries received by one
western road from advertising con-
cerning trips to California were the
heaviest since 1916. the year of the
. Panama Pacific Exposition.
Reports from San Francisco which
reached the writer by telegraph to-
day, state that an unprecedented in
tiuN of winter visitors is expected in
central and northern California by
railroads, hotel men and tourists
agencies. Railroads are preparing
20 handle travel % per cent heavier
than that of last year and figures
compiled by the Hotel Mems Associa-
l,rN n1G-. -fS4e CO,
Francisco now are averaging between
300 and LOO a day.
Hotel Rates Reduced.
Hotels in California are said to have
made material reductions in their
rates in the last two years to meet
the strong competition of the Florida
resorts Already the Florida hotels,
including scores of new hostelries.
>are filling up and reserve lists of
many are closed for the greater part
of the season. The competition is not
confined to the winter time, for Jack
sonville and Los Angeles and, San
Francisco are rapidly becoming all
ar-year-round resorts
y spirit of exploration also is mani
fest among the 1928 trippers. They
are asking railroads for information
about places where the crowd does
not go" As a result new journeys
are being mapped out both in the
south and west. Taos, y. NJ. and the
1ueDloS OF llie LuItl anu
country have been discovered" again,
although they were among the oldest
communities of the United States
when Coronado marched through New
Mexico. The roads into the Florida
. everglades have opened that section
also to tourists.
The Grand Canyon of the Colorado
still is one of the great detectives of
many travellers. 1t is estimated that
nearly $50, 900 people will have visited
it before the end of 1923, 60 per cent
!, coming by rail and 40 per cent by au-
' tomobile.
The stimulus which the national
parks have given tourist travel can
be judged by the estimates of the
bureau of public parks, which place
the amount spent in park travel last
summer at s100,000.000. A grand total
of 1.2S0,SS6 travellers visited national
parks last summer, divided as to the
larger reservations as follows: Rocky
Mountain, 21S,000: Yellowstone, 1885,
$50; Yosemite, 130,046; Plat national.
11771O: Mount RAINIER, 123,70S; Hot
Springs. 10000; Grand Canyon, 1922
l66 Before the war the annual list
tof visitors totaled about $4,000.
Copyright. 1921