New Zealand seems to be the darling of the tourism world these days. The residual glow of being the location for The Lord of the Rings, an internationally super-popular Prime Minister, its natural beauty, ease of life... all this and more come together to make it a bit of a bucket-list destination for European and US travellers.
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But this was certainly not the case back in 1954, when an absolutely blistering review of the country as a travel destination by a US newspaper made its way onto the front page of The Canberra Times.
The "South Seas" travel article in The Chicago Tribune warned Americans that New Zealanders were "30 years behind the times and few of them know it".
In a long list of slights aimed at the Kiwis, correspondent Walter Simmons claimed the New Zealand government-owned airline TEAL was "noted for its inefficiency even by New Zealand travellers."
He said it was necessary to triple-check travel arrangements generally in the South Pacific, but "with New Zealand bookings a fourth check was required".
But it was surely the final barb that stung the most. Veering towards fashion critique, Simmons wrote that New Zealand women "wear shapeless dresses" and that their hair "seems to have been cut with shears."
