Travel Rules Reflect International Policies

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27874, 24 January 1956, Page 12

Travel Rules Reflect International Policies

If Prince Rainier of Monaco were to visit New Zealand his entourage would not require entry visas. Were Miss Grace Kelly to accompany him, she, as a United States citizen, would need to show a visa with her passport. All would need certified proof that they had received smallpox vaccinations within the last three years, but would probably not have to pay any taxes or duties. The rules of international travel can be a clear testimony to national policies and foreign relations throughout the world. ' They also form a fascinating yet forbidding list of requirements for prospective travellers. Along with the fares and time-tables for every scheduled air service in the world, these international requirements are set out in the ABC World Airways Guide, published in London every month. Bermuda is one of the few’ countries of the world to which most tourists can go without the approval of the authorities. Nationals from Iron

Curtain countries must be less welcome there, for they must apply for entry. Almost every other country imposes rules which indicate caution or outright hostility toward visitors. New Zealanders can cross almost any frontier without much difficulty, as can other members of the British Commonwealth. In some South American lands they would need a testimonial of good conduct and political reliability. This caution applies in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, and also in the Philippines and the Belgian Congo.Soviet Russia advises darkly: “Personal application to Consulate.” So does the United States. Portuguese Guinea is the only country which advertises its refusal to admit Russians. The 13,000 citizens of the tiny principality of Liechtenstein, sandwiched between Austria and Switzerland, seem to be welcome almost everywhere. along with those of a dozen or so privileged countries. These includeDenmark, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy Luxembourg the Netherlands Norway. Pakistan, San Marino, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and its colonies. If, however, Liechtenstein tourists cross to Switzerland they face the longest and most complicated list of bank holidays in the book. The Arab countries oppose Jhe entry of Israelis or anyone holding ah Israeli passport or visa. Formosa welcomes only Chinese who hold a Chinese Nationalist passport. The trench colonies have special facilities for exchanging visitors. India r®- § UIr «t s a? • special authority before South Africans of non-Indian origin or priests can disembark. Persia wil] not aomit holders of passports with visas for Bahrein. Kuwait or Quator. . Australia requires no visa for British subjects of European race—except Cypriots. The Panama Canal Zone insists that citizens of Germany or Japan obtain a military permit. A citizen of the German Federal Republic would need no visa to enter or pass through the Saar; a Frenchman would A seemingly endless list of taxes and duties faces travellers in manv. countries: stamp taxes. transport taxes, embarkation taxes and airport taxes, taxes for landing and quarantine and on commercial travellers V ead tax ’ touris * terminal’, and ticket taxes.

Not all the information is so forbidding The finest details are apparent to the armchair tourist who assiduously reads the small print. He will lerrn that he can take a free airport bus at a terminal office. 4 Avenue du vont, Leopoldville (telephone 3671) to board a DC-3 airliner at 7.30 n9n pm ' I J ew Zealand time) and at t a n l' ' be at inongo, in the heart of the Belgian Congo It would cost him 1560 Belgian Congo francs and he can obtain light rertr<.esthhTents 2? J he trip - He can on! y de this on Wednesdays. Should this excursion not be to one’s taste then there are flights from more than 6000 airports from which to choose.