ENG-1967 — Page 220

162

IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, German Federal Republic, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Iran, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Maldive Islands, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela and Western Samoa, are permitted to enter Hong Kong without visas for a stay of up to one month. In addition, many other nationals are now permitted to transit Hong Kong without a visa, whether by sea or air, if they do not stay for more than seven days.

TOURISM

When the United Nations designated 1967 as International Tourist Year, with the motto "Tourism, Passport to Peace', the hope was that this new industry would receive the recognition that would enable it to contribute even more strongly towards the welfare of mankind and to the improvement of the economies of countries whose governments recognized its potential value. In Hong Kong, after an encouraging start to the year, local and world events caused setbacks. But despite prolonged adverse—and in some cases exag- gerated publicity and propaganda, the industry has weathered the storm and emerged intact and optimistic for the future. This is a sure sign of the fundamental strength of Hong Kong's attraction to overseas visitors.

The most important lesson to be learned from the experiences of the year is that some markets are more susceptible to propaganda from mass publicity media than others. It is hoped that those involved in Hong Kong's travel industry will, in future, cultivate tourist promotion in potential travel markets.

Few countries in the world can match the speed with which Hong Kong processes entry and departure formalities for visitors. The introduction, in the near future, of aircraft with greatly in- creased carrying capacity will call for even more simplified passenger procedures.

The proportion of visitors arriving by air compared with those arriving by sea continues to show a marked increase and, during