Washington - Seven new countries will be added to the United States' visa-waiver programme after meeting new security requirements aimed at reducing the threat of terrorism, President George W Bush announced Friday.

In about one month, citizens of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea will be able to visit the US for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.

The admission was part of a long process that began some two years ago and has strained relations with US allies. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, the US has placed a variety of new security requirements on all foreign travellers.

Bush hailed the agreement as a "new chapter" in relations. He recognized the past frustrations, but said the security measures were necessary to protect the US from terrorist attacks.

"In the world after September 11, we could only expand travel opportunities if we increased security measures at the same time," he said.

"Extending this opportunity to some of our closest allies deepens our friendship and makes all our countries safer," he said in a statement from the White House Rose Garden, joined by ambassadors from the seven countries, and six other potential candidates for visa-free status.

According to the new provisions, countries that are part of the visa-waiver programme need to issue tamper-proof biometric passports. Visitors will also need to register online with the US government before their travel as of 2009.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek in a statement said Washington's decision "lifts the last relic of communism and the Cold War."

Czech officials had earlier signaled that the visas could be lifted on November 17, the 19th anniversary of a student march that led to the so-called Velvet Revolution, the peaceful fall of communism in then Czechoslovakia.

But some Czech citizens said the new policy came too late. "Many people will not be impressed. The era of the hurrah travel to America is over," said Prague-based writer Barbora Drevikovska.

Despite such grumbling, Czech travel agencies expect a boom in US tourism next year.

"We expect a significant double-digit growth in Czech tourists' interest in US travel," the Association of Czech Travel Agencies said in a statement.

Officials in the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also welcomed the move, which will cut out the difficult and costly process of applying for visas.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa the step was "completely normal" as Estonia and the US share the same values.

Latvian President Valdis Zatlers called it "a valuable gift for the state holiday," referring to the fact that next month Latvia celebrates 90 years since it first declared its independence.

The announcement expands the US visa-waiver programme to 34 countries.

Six others - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Poland and Romania - are on track to join the programme at a later date, Bush said.

Roger Dow, president of the US Travel Industry Association (TIA), said the announcement would help reverse a "significant decline" in travel to the US since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

In 2007, despite a weak dollar, 2 million fewer people visited the US than in 2000, according to the TIA. (dpa)