Call For Easier Entry Procedure

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32274, 17 April 1970, Page 22

Call For Easier Entry Procedure

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, April 16.

A further call for the streamlining of entry procedures for tourists was made today at the Pacific Area Travel Association conference, by Mr E. J. Miller, of Trans World Airlines.

Mr Miller said he found the New Zealand embarkationdisembarkation card, with its 14 questions, “confusing.” “The rash of paperwork inflicted on the international traveller means that he spends time repeating not only the same information in successive countries, but frequently provides duplicate and even triplicate information for the same country,” he said.

Mr Miller said that other countries with lengthy ques-

tionnaires for incoming visitors were the Philippines, which had 11 questions, Pakistan 13, Singapore 14 and Burma 18.

Most travellers accepted that certain countries—not only New Zealand—had special problems in agricultural requirements, but there was scope for improvement. “I must admit to having been subjected to a full baggage inspection here in New Zealand, but I commend the courtesy of the customs examining officer—a smile and a friendly word goes a long way in making a passenger feel welcome,” he said. The best advertisement for a country was a satisfied tourist. “If travellers’ tales are heart-rending, if they give lurid details of the problems of obtaining visas, entry formalities, airport delays, indignities and inconveniences, then this is far from an advertisement for the country concerned,” he said.