ENG-1984 — Page 290

IMMIGRATION AND TOURISM

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capacity of the four main closed centres. The existing centres at Hei Ling Chau, Chi Ma Wan and Cape Collinson continued to be fully used, and accommodated 5 575 refugees at the year's end.

At 2 230, the number of arrivals from Vietnam was just over half the figure for 1983. This encouraging reduction remained consistent with the fall in the rate of arrivals since the introduction of the closed centre policy. In addition, the growth of the Orderly Departure Programme from Vietnam, the general decline in resettlement prospects, and the efforts of the Vietnamese Government to discourage illegal departures, appear also to have played a part in this trend.

During the year, the only countries which continued to provide resettlement quotas for Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong were the United States, Canada and Australia. Other countries continued to accept refugees only for family reunion or because they had been rescued at sea by a ship bearing that country's flag. As a consequence, only 3 694 refugees were resettled from Hong Kong in 1984, compared with 4 200 in 1983.

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The falling resettlement rate, and consequently the large number of refugees detained in closed centres, created certain management problems for the Correctional Services Depart- ment, whose staff run the closed centres. In February, during the Lunar New Year, disturbances broke out in both the Chi Ma Wan and the Hei Ling Chau Closed Centres because of differences between the northern and southern Vietnamese. As a result, the two groups have since been accommodated separately northerners at Hei Ling Chau and southerners at Chi Ma Wan. Nevertheless, the lack of resettlement opportunities continued to cause discontent among the refugees. On July 2, a hunger strike was organised by the northern Vietnamese refugees at Hei Ling Chau. The refugees were protesting against the slow pace of their resettlement, and the strike, which lasted four days, was brought to a peaceful conclusion following the intervention of the local representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Accommodating Vietnamese refugees in closed centres continued to place its own financial burden on Hong Kong, costing the government some $84 million in 1984. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees contributed $20 million to the cost of maintaining refugees in these centres.

For those 5 895 who had arrived in Hong Kong before the change in policy in July 1982 and were still stranded here two years later, life continued in the two open centres much as before. Refugees in these centres are not confined, and adults are allowed to take up temporary employment with which to support themselves and their families, with few restrictions upon their movements within or without the centres. Resettlement from the open centres continues, but at a very slow rate. At the end of the year, there were still 3 388 refugees in the Kai Tak Transit Centre run by the Hong Kong Red Cross, and 2 483 in the Jubilee Transit Centre run by Caritas-Hong Kong. More than 2 184 had been living in these temporary transit centres for over five years.

Tourism

During the year, Hong Kong earned an estimated $13,700 million (up 26.6 per cent over the 1983 figure) from the 3 132 000 visitors staying in the territory (also up by 12.9 per cent over 1983).

Hong Kong Tourist Association

The Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) is responsible for developing tourism. A statutory body set up by the government, the HKTA co-ordinates the activities of the