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IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM
traffic in 1983 totalled some 27.6 million, an increase of 10.4 per cent compared with 25 million in 1982.
All immigration control points were extremely busy during the year. The bulk of the China traffic (9.9 million) was carried by rail via Lo Wu which remained under the heaviest pressure. Conditions for both travellers and staff at Lo Wu were uncomfortable because of severe overcrowding at the present temporary terminal building. The old terminal building has been demolished and work has started on a permanent modern terminal in keeping with Lo Wu's status as a busy gateway to China.
A new immigration control point was opened at Sham Shui Po on September 1, 1983, for hoverferries and jetfoils travelling between Kowloon and Macau. Other major projects to improve and enlarge immigration control points and to open new facilities are planned and a preliminary study has begun into the possibility of speeding up immigration clearance by the use of computer facilities.
Personal Documentation
The demand for travel documents during 1983 was just under one million, slightly less than the figures for 1982 and 1981. Re-entry permits for travel to China and Macau accounted for some 66 per cent of all issues.
In May a scheme began for replacing all existing Hong Kong identity cards with a new type of card. The new card is more difficult to forge and is backed by a computerised record system to facilitate quick authentication. Good progress was made and by the end of 1983 most men under 29 years of age had exchanged their cards. Over a million new cards have now been issued and the exercise will be completed in 1987.
Vietnamese Refugees
The Vietnamese refugee problem continued to place a heavy burden upon Hong Kong during 1983. At the start of the year, the territory accommodated 12 631 refugees; by the end of the year, although 4 200 had been resettled, a further 3 651 had arrived, 727 had been born and 28 had died in Hong Kong, and the refugee population stood at 12 770.
In July 1982, faced with the prospect of a continuing need to provide accommodation for refugees, the government had introduced a policy to discourage future arrivals by detaining them in closed refugee centres in the remoter parts of the territory. Under this policy of humane deterrence, which followed measures already adopted elsewhere in the region to cope with this enduring problem, refugees are confined in government- administered closed centres until such time as they are resettled overseas. Refugees in these centres are not allowed to find outside work; visits are strictly regulated and generally limited to relatives and close friends; and, for their own protection, refugees are subject to a certain amount of discipline and control.
This policy has been maintained in 1983. Three main centres have already been opened - at Chi Ma Wan, Hei Ling Chau and Cape Collinson, and a fourth centre outside Tuen Mun will be opened in January 1984. At the year's end, 5 723 refugees were accommodated in closed centres. The centres are administered by the Correctional Services Department, medical services are provided by the Medical and Health Department, and social and educational services are provided by various voluntary agencies working in the camps.
Accommodating Vietnamese refugees in these centres places its own financial burden on Hong Kong, and cost the government $143 million in 1983. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) contributed $19 million to the cost of maintaining refugees in these centres during the year. There were signs in 1983 that the policy of humane