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IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

Also in September, a Hong Kong Arts Festival promotion was held in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The central feature was a presentation of slides which covered past Arts Festivals and various other festivals in Hong Kong.

In the United States, the HKTA mounted a booth display at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia, in August. The main objective was to inform and remind ASAE members of Hong Kong's facilities and attractions as a place for conventions and holidays. Post-ASAE promotions were held in six other American cities and were aimed at important whole- salers, incentive operators and senior staff of trans-Pacific carriers in those cities. In New Orleans in September, an HKTA delegation took part in the 46th American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) annual convention.

A series of promotions was held in London at the beginning of the year and in February the HKTA was well represented at the 10th International Tourism Exchange (ITB) in Berlin. Several convention promotions were staged in four German cities during the autumn, to create an awareness of the conference facilities in Hong Kong.

In Australia, travel trade and consumer promotions were held in February, July and September. The travel trade promotions used a new audio visual presentation of recent developments in Hong Kong while the consumer promotions featured several Hong Kong entertainers and craftsmen, including a dragon's beard candymaker, calligrapher, model grasshopper maker and fortune-teller.

The Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) held their 19th annual con- ference at the Hong Kong Convention Centre in August. More than 700 delegates attended. During their stay they met local travel trade members and updated them- selves on various sightseeing attractions in Hong Kong with a view to incorporating these attractions in visitor itineraries.

Other overseas meetings and promotions in which the HKTA took part were the Association of South African Travel Agents (ASATA) annual congress in Deauville; the SKAL (AISC) convention in Florence; and the International Congress and Con- vention Association (ICCA) general assembly in Monte Carlo.

Public Relations

The finals of the 1976 Miss Universe Pageant, which were held in Hong Kong in July, were televised by TVB and transmitted by satellite to millions of viewers through- out the world. More than 65 per cent of all television sets in the United States alone were switched to the pageant.

Months earlier, as soon as it was officially announced that the pageant was to be held in Hong Kong, a specially-compiled HKTA press kit with photographic and written material on Hong Kong and the pageant was released to the international media. This was the start of an HKTA publicity programme for media all over the world.

In April, a three-minute pre-pageant film clip was made during the visit to Hong Kong of Miss Universe 1975, Anne Marie Pohtamo. She was filmed against several