COSMOPOLIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 24, 24 December 1932, Page 8

COSMOPOLIS.

LONDON OUSTS PARIS. Loud are the lamentations of Parisians, for they can no longer boast that their city is the cosmopolis of the world (says a London writer). That honour has passed to London, where the West End. throughout the summer, has echoed to a babel of tongues. Of an inquiring turn in mind, the Travel Association has been at some pains to garner statistics concerning the nationality of the guests who have recently been in our midst, searching particularly the registers of the great hotels. From the returns thus revealed, many interesting facts emerge, all proving that London is to-day, from the tourist viewpoint, the most “mixed” citv in the world.

“During the period June to September, the nationals of 45 foreign countries stayed at the Savoy, the visitors including citizens of Albania, Columbia, Esthonia, Haiti, and the Ukraine. Nineteen foreign nations were represented among the 1423 guests at the Carlton and the Ritz, and 30 among those who took rooms at the Dorchester, Metropole and other Gordon hotels. They came from Turkey, Iceland, Liechtenstein, India, Arabia, Persia, and almost everywhere, the Emir Feisal of the Hedjaz being of the number. Grosvemor House drew visitors not only from Europe and the Americas, hut China, Japan, Malay, and the Dutch East Indies, and people hom all the States of South America added their nationalities to the 28 nations mentioned in the register of the Park Lane Hotel. During August—a hot but alluring month —no fewer than 1200 Americans booked at the Regent Palace, and more than 1000 at the Strand Palace. Holland, France, Germany. Belgium, Sweden and Denmark, in the order named, provided the greater proportion of the remaining guests at these two popular hotels, which, all the year round, are literally packed to tlie doors. And so, indeed, it was at practically every residential hotel in London. All the world seemed suddenly stricken with the attractions of England, and foreigners vied with one another in discovering its manifold charms. But the greatest charm of all, one suspects, was that their money went further in this country than any other, for the vagaries of the exchange position are such that most foreign currency is pleasantly multiplied directly it reaches British shores.