Italians fly in but most hotels are full

By FRANCESCA MOLD and JASON COLLIE

There's no room at the casa for thousands of patriotic Italians desperately seeking accommodation while their country's top yachtsmen fight for the America's Cup.

The Prada team say that "half of Italy" is on its way to Auckland to support their battle against Team New Zealand but many are finding it difficult to get flights and accommodation.

Air New Zealand and Qantas confirm that the number of Italian passengers is increasing and many inner-city hotels say they are booked out for at least the next week.

Air NZ spokesman Alastair Carthew said figures for December showed that 1216 Italians arrived here, compared with 765 for the same month last year.

"The numbers have gone up as Prada has done better.

"Many of the arrivals are also people connected with the syndicate," he said.

The Heritage Hotel, on the corner of Wyndham and Hobson Sts, said it was receiving lots of inquiries about accommodation, including calls from New Zealanders.

The hotel, which is home to the Prada team, is fully booked for the next week.

Carlton Hotel front office manager Paul Gallop said the hotel was booked solid for the whole of this month and had been for six months.

Guests included a Japanese contingent here to watch the America's Cup and passengers from a number of cruise ships.

"We're still getting lots of inquiries from Italians wanting to stay. When the Americans were knocked out of the cup we thought they would pack up and go home but they all seem to be staying on," he said.

The Stamford Plaza, which is hosting the Italian Ambassador this weekend, and the Novotel are also full.

The expected influx of Italian tourists comes as police and the Auckland harbourmaster made a plea yesterday to the 1500 boats expected to watch the start of racing this weekend to continue the good behaviour shown so far this summer.

Harbourmaster Captain James McPetrie is expecting that the spectator fleet for the first two races will be about that number, the same size as for the end of the Louis Vuitton finals.

Captain McPetrie, who last week threatened to stop the world powerboat championships because of fears organisers would not be able to control spectators, said the marshalling of the yachting event was running smoothly after three months of challenger racing.

"After last week we are quite relaxed about the America's Cup," he said.

"People are behaving exceptionally well so far and we would ask them to continue that.

"We're advising them to remember the four Cs: common sense, caution, consideration and courtesy."

Detective Superintendent Peter Marshall, the America's Cup police operations commander, added: "We see it as very much business as usual. [But] we just can't let our guard down in terms of the potential danger of alcohol and the water."

Twenty boats will be marshalling in the area, while the police will have a full complement of vessels and officers out as well.

A five-knot speed limit will be imposed within 1.6km of the race course from 15 minutes before the start through to 15 minutes after the finish.

The marshals will be broadcasting on VHF channel 17, while the coastguard will be on channel 21.