ENG-1966 — Page 225

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IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

which affected bookings here included a series of air disasters in Japan, the United Kingdom shipping strike and the prolonged strikes of airline personnel in the US and Australia. Visitors from the United Kingdom and elsewhere may also have been affected by the severe credit squeeze and the currency restrictions for foreign travel imposed by the United Kingdom Government.

These setbacks have not weakened Hong Kong's efforts or achievements. On the contrary, 1966 has been a year of great expansion, both within the Colony and overseas. In Hong Kong the work of the Tourist Association has developed to the extent that the board of management considered it advisable to move the head office to the central district of Victoria so that a more efficient service can be given to visitors and closer contact kept with members of the Association and with the many facets of the tourist industry. Already this move has proved to be a wise decision. In Australia, a move of office to larger premises was overdue and the location of the new office in Sydney has met with approval. In America the Tourist Association now has a representative in New York as well as in San Francisco; a new agency office was opened during the year in Washington. Similarly, it was decided to open a Tourist Association office in Tokyo. During the year the board of manage- ment, realizing the great potential of the Canadian market, appointed an agent with offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal to act on behalf of the Association. In the United Kingdom, expansion has taken place by increasing the degree of representation in the London Office.

This expansion is well founded in the light of the tourist inflow figures over the years since the creation of the Tourist Association in 1957. From the 1958 figure of 103,058 the numbers have risen to 406,508 in 1965 and 458,238 in 1966. The 1966 total showed an increase of 13 per cent over the previous year's. These visitors, who included businessmen but not servicemen, have come to Hong Kong from 92 countries, with the largest proportions originating in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth (particularly Australia), the Philippines and Europe. There has been a marked change in the pattern of tourism, with an increase in visitors from Japan, a decrease in the duration of stay and in the spending power of the average visitor, and the

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