TNAG-0070-FCO40-106-Disturbances-in-Hong-Kong-propaganda-1968 — Page 33

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We cannot comment on the attitude of the shipping lines, though, as your own telegram suggested, their actions may have been dictated by purely commercial considerations). But we do know that, in September for example, bookings to Hong Kong through the local BOAC office were showing an upward trend and that there had been no sign of a fall in business even during the height of the trouble.

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By and large most New Zealanders travelling, abroad will, if the opportunity arises or can be contrived, stop-over in Hong Kong. The prospects of good duty-free shopping tend to over-ride many other considerations; and there is no reason to suppose that this attitude would change unless the situation in Hong Kong deteriorated quite severely and there were authenticated stories of visitors being molested and getting involved in the shooting. (I might add, for good measure, that one Wellington paper published a story about a New Zealand woman who had lived in Hong Kong for some months including the worst of the trouble; she said that life had gone on much as before and that she had had no difficulty over shopping etc. and that she had not had any fears even when her husband was travelling outside Hong Kong

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5. This is all rather negative, but I think it indicates clearly enough that Hong Kong has not had a bad press in New Zealand. Moreover, there is no reason to suppose that if there were to be another outburst, reporting here would be other than factual. Of course, the right type of ammunition" would always be useful, and it might well be worth considering whe ther now or some time in the future the Hong Kong Tourist Office in Sydney could or should take a more positive line in

selling" Hong Kong. The Tourist Office sends out regular information and news letters to airline offices and travel agents, and this sort of information from some one on the spot or almost on the spot) is likely to be more convincing than any press reports.

!!

G

6. Finally, I think you will be interested to see the enclosed copies of some correspondence which an importer in Auckland exchanged with a firm in Shanghai, It would not be unfair to

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say that Mr Jackson (the importer) is an average New Zealander";

but you will see that he holds very robust views which illustrate in another way that Hong Kong's telegram contained more than one assumption which turned out to be inaccurate.

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Lonca sincerely.

Jom hills

(J.E.A. Miles)

CONFIDENTIAL