ENG-1966 — Page 224

IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

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as a result the ship searching activities of the harbour section were stepped up. Enforced night clearance of vessels entering the Colony waters commenced during the year, after discussion with the Port Executive Committee. This change was introduced in order to reduce delays in clearing shipping early in the morning.

Traffic at Kai Tak Airport established a new record. During the year 1,384,177 passengers and 25,859 aircraft were dealt with. This was an increase of 36.43 per cent in passenger traffic over the previous year. An innovation to the Immigration Department was the recruitment of women immigration sub-inspectors. After training these were posted to the airport where they took their place alongside their male counterparts in the performance of normal immigration duties. The experiment has proved a great success.

Further changes in the visa regulations were introduced in April, when the Governor in Council approved proposals whereby nationals of Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Nor- way, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United States of America and Venezuela are permitted to enter Hong Kong without visas for a stay of up to 14 days.

TOURISM

The path of Hong Kong's tourist and travel industry during 1966 has been strewn with obstacles which could have had an injurious effect on a less healthy industry. However, the impetus of travel and tourism has been only slightly retarded and, given reasonably favourable conditions and perhaps improvements in world conditions, this virile industry will continue to contribute to the economy and welfare of the Colony.

Of the local difficulties which affected the tourist flow, the civil disturbances in Kowloon caused apprehension overseas and prompted cancellations by prospective visitors. Fortunately the disturbances were of short duration and their effect on the inflow was limited. Another disruptive factor of longer duration resulted from the June rainstorm. However, thanks to the remarkable speed of recovery that was achieved, the flow of inward traffic was restored with a minimum of loss. Circumstances outside Hong Kong