A picture postcard paints a thousand words

Wanganui - too beautiful for postcards? Photo/File

An overseas visitor writes:

"I am holidaying in Wanganui for a few weeks and really enjoying my time in your beautiful city and countryside.

"I wanted to send postcards back to family and friends to tell them how things are going and show them a little bit of the city and its attractions.

"But I have struggled to find any postcards of Wanganui, and when I do find somewhere that sells them, there really isn't much choice or variety. Why is this?"

This "cri de coeur" struck home at the Chronicle ...

Are we not trying to promote our district to visitors? Isn't this the height of the tourist season? Can it be that the combined forces of digital photography and the internet mean postcards are a thing of the past?

Wanganui has just had a hugely successful opera week and a magnificent Vintage Weekend that attracted hundreds of visitors to the city. There must have been plenty among them who felt inclined to dash off a "Wish you were here ..." message on the back of a picture displaying the River City's charms.

The younger generation can snap away with their smartphones and have their "digital postcards" back home in minutes, but a lot of oldies must surely still enjoy the traditional postcard, stamp and trip to the postbox.

Perhaps there's a business opening for some artistic entrepreneur to produce a unique set of Wanganui postcards because a quick Chronicle survey confirmed that the pickings are slim.

Our post office sells postcards of Wellington's cable car and Cape Reinga but nothing from the home front, and we drew blanks at most other places.

An attractive postcard sent elsewhere is free publicity for a district trying to improve its image. It would be nice to make this marketing opportunity more widely available ... or maybe the shops had all sold out?