ENG-1970 — Page 195

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IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

Association that these visitors while in Hong Kong spent about $1,759 million on hotel accommodation, shopping, entertainment, sightseeing and related expenditures.

Americans remained the largest national group of visitors with a total of 251,609, an 18.69 per cent increase over 1969. The number of Japanese visitors to Hong Kong continued to increase as did the figures from other Asian neighbours with the exception of the Philippines.

The Japanese total for 1970 was 168,473, a 17.20 per cent increase over the figure for 1969. Increases in the number of tourists coming from other Asian countries to Hong Kong may be attributed par- tially to the successful liaison between the Hong Kong Tourist Association and Cathay Pacific Airways begun in 1969, whereby Cathay Pacific offices in the region act as official representatives of the HKTA, distributing promotional material and disseminating information regarding events and festivals in Hong Kong.

Hotel accommodation was again strained at peak periods of the year. At present there are nearly 8,000 rooms available. The estimated occupancy in 1970 was 90.3 per cent, a figure that did not allow for much selectivity on the part of visitors. This situation prompted the Tourist Association to carry out a survey of hotel needs. Pro- jections for the next 10 years were made and indicated that an average of 1,100 new rooms a year would be required. At the present time, about 3,500 hotel rooms are under construction in Hong Kong. Many of these are in the lower budget category. Staffing these additional facilities will be helped by the expansion planned for the hotel training division of the Kwun Tong Vocational Train- ing School.

Overseas, a new office of the Hong Kong Tourist Association was opened in Frankfurt. Numerous seminars and displays were mounted by the Association's offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe and Australia, and, from headquarters in Hong Kong, more than one million pieces of promotional literature were dis- tributed to prospective visitors in 102 countries. A major overseas promotion in 1970 linked the Tourist Association and the Hong Kong Diamond Importers Association for the first time. 'Hong Kong International Diamond Centre' is the slogan now being publicised abroad to indicate an additional feature of Hong Kong.

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