THL - Tourism Holdings

[BlackPeter]

As some one who does a lot of driving I should point out just how dangerous some of these foreign drivers are.
It is the Asians.
We would not let in a serial killer,yet we let these murders in.
They do indeed drive on the wrong side of the road.They overtake on blind corners.I am scared stiff of them.
Following them I can pick them up a mile away,but when they come at you on the wrong side off the road on a blind corner,that is murder.

Hi percy, this is a very emotional subject - and prone to irrational and unfair judgements. It is bad enough without throwing racism into the debate.

I agree that it is dangerous for any driver to change over night from driving on one side of the road to the other side. Any driver changes from time to time to "autopilot" and this is when you make a mistake if your default side to drive is on the other side of the road. I did drive for decades on the right side of the road, for decades on the left ... and am typically at least once a year in a country where they drive on the other side. I do know what I am talking about.

This is however in my view just a risk we need to accept unless we want to totally ban tourists driving on our roads (and with that any Kiwi who would want to drive abroad). Remember - all these agreements are reciprocal.

Nothing of that has to do with Asian drivers. Some of them are used to drive on the left (e.g Singapore, Malaysia and I think India), and they will not have more problems than any Kiwi driver. Some of them come from countries driving on the right side of the road - and they will have not more problems than any driver from continental Europe or the US.

If you observe on your trips a vehicle with an reasonable driver who looks caucasian - you don't know whether (s)he is a tourist, but you assume probably its a Kiwi. Could be however a continental European or an American.

If you observe on your trips a vehicle with an appalling driver who looks Asian - you don't know whether (s)he is a tourist or a Kiwi, but you just assume (s)he is a tourist. Could be however a third generation Kiwi.

See where I am coming from?

[percy]

Hi percy, this is a very emotional subject - and prone to irrational and unfair judgements. It is bad enough without throwing racism into the debate.

I agree that it is dangerous for any driver to change over night from driving on one side of the road to the other side. Any driver changes from time to time to "autopilot" and this is when you make a mistake if your default side to drive is on the other side of the road. I did drive for decades on the right side of the road, for decades on the left ... and am typically at least once a year in a country where they drive on the other side. I do know what I am talking about.

This is however in my view just a risk we need to accept unless we want to totally ban tourists driving on our roads (and with that any Kiwi who would want to drive abroad). Remember - all these agreements are reciprocal.

Nothing of that has to do with Asian drivers. Some of them are used to drive on the left (e.g Singapore, Malaysia and I think India), and they will not have more problems than any Kiwi driver. Some of them come from countries driving on the right side of the road - and they will have not more problems than any driver from continental Europe or the US.

If you observe on your trips a vehicle with an reasonable driver who looks caucasian - you don't know whether (s)he is a tourist, but you assume probably its a Kiwi. Could be however a continental European or an American.

If you observe on your trips a vehicle with an appalling driver who looks Asian - you don't know whether (s)he is a tourist or a Kiwi, but you just assume (s)he is a tourist. Could be however a third generation Kiwi.

See where I am coming from?

No.
Not many NZ Asian drivers drive rental cars/camper vans.
Coming back from Arthur's Pass a while ago, one nearly had not 1,not 2 ,but 3 head-on crashes.
Maddness.!
Just ask any truck,bus or commercial driver.They will confirm what I say.

[RupertBear]

No.
Not many NZ Asian drivers drive rental cars/camper vans.
Coming back from Arthur's Pass a while ago, one nearly had not 1,not 2 ,but 3 head-on crashes.
Maddness.!
Just ask any truck,bus or commercial driver.They will confirm what I say.

I share your fear Percy. I have also experienced a camper van driven by a young Asian man heading towards me on the wrong side of the road in central otago. It was terrifying and not an uncommon occurence from what I am told. I am not sure if identifying the nationality of the driver makes us racist or not, I can only say that in my case the driver was Asian.

[Beagle]

I agree more needs to be done to educate foreign drivers but according to the BNZ foreign tourists spent $26 billion while in N.Z. last year so I am not sure what people expect the N.Z. government to do about the issue, perhaps a debate for a separate off market thread for those interested in debating that ? Tourism is a huge breadwinner for the N.Z. economy and is growing fast at circa 12% per annum. THL is a huge beneficiary of the tourism growth and the change in nature of how tourists are seeing out country.

[see weed]

I drive on a winding road on most weekends and have a simple method of avoiding head on crashes with people driving on the wrong side of the road. I cannot tell you what I do on this forum, but will let you know what to do at next st meeting. ps so far it has worked for me 100%.

[sb9]

Just noticed a paid article in NBR (don't have access) re an article on THL titled...
Tourism Holdings confident Trump visa crackdown won't affect its customers...under which top statement visible for readers say ..."About 40% of Tourism Holdings earnings will now come from the US"..

I think little caution need to be excercised going forward with high USD in play for 2017 and may be beyond in terms how earnings will take place...

Food for thought.

Disc - sold out recently.

[Beagle]

I've read the full article sb9. Interestingly just over 50% of their business is from domestic sources and many of their customers are repeats doing their second, third or fourth motorhome trip in the States...she's a big country !

[BlackPeter]

I share your fear Percy. I have also experienced a camper van driven by a young Asian man heading towards me on the wrong side of the road in central otago. It was terrifying and not an uncommon occurence from what I am told. I am not sure if identifying the nationality of the driver makes us racist or not, I can only say that in my case the driver was Asian.

You might not realise that Asia is not a country but a continent. No "nationality" Asian - and no race either. There are caucasians living in Asia, there are other Indo-Europeans (like Indians), there are Polynesian people who come from Asia (including our Maori) and there are the Chinese "Han" people (and that's what you probably refer to).

If you are saying that you observed one dangerous driver of Chinese descent, than this may be just an observation. If you draw from that the conclusion that all Chinese drivers are behaving dangerously, than yes, this would be racist - and wrong. I do know a number of drivers of Chinese descent who drive much safer than some (Pakeha or Maori) Kiwi drivers I happened to meet on NZ roads.

From a personal perspective (which is statistically as irrelevant as yours) - I am driving a lot in NZ and can not remember one dangerous situation involving an Asian driver. I do remember however finding myself in dangerous situations involving a number of reckless Kiwi drivers. Does this mean all Kiwi drivers are bad? Of course not.

I used to drive during my life in many countries in Europe as well as in Australasia ... and can say that I met everywhere good drivers as well as bad ones. Trust me - this has nothing to do with race or nationality. The young man who frightened you in Central Otago may have been from some Asian country, but he could have been as well a Northland or Southland hoon - I understand they work hard to kill themselves and others on our roads.

[winner69]

I would hazard a guess that thl has many Asian shareholders

[Raz]

I would hazard a guess hat thl has many Asian shareholders

Well I see it as drivers not familiar with our conditions not a racial issue..driving on the wrong side of the road is just one issue. Another area overseas drivers appear unable to deal with is loose seal. Twice in a weekend late last year a rental rolled in front of me and as i was near queenstown and returning a rental I asked if that was a common issue and surprise surprise it isn't. People from EU just as bad on this one.