APEC to endorse plan on reviving tourism

APEC to endorse plan on reviving tourism

Vijay Joshi, Associated Press, Khon Kaen, Thailand

Trade ministers of Asia-Pacific countries meet this week to sign off on an emergency plan to revive the region's tourism industry and other businesses that have been hard hit by the outbreak of SARS.

Ministers from the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will also discuss ways to pay for increased security in shipping and air travel because of terrorism fears.

Economic growth rates across Asia have dropped because of the disease -- Hong Kong by 1.8 percent, Singapore by 1.1, Taiwan by 0.9 and China by 0.2 -- according to the Asian Development Bank.

Fears of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) have even affected countries that have not had major outbreaks. In Thailand, for example, tourism arrivals have dropped by 40 percent and some businesses are warning they face bankruptcy.

Ministers will endorse the "APEC Action Plan on SARS," said C. Lawrence Greenwood, U.S. Ambassador to APEC.

"We want to make sure we get the travel, the tourism going as soon as possible," he said. The plan focuses on "how to make sure health screening is effective but promotes the movement of people."

"It's also an outreach to business, to make sure companies have travel policies that are consistent with that," Greenwood told The Associated Press.

The ministerial meeting, a culmination of weeklong talks between senior officials, will be held on Monday and Tuesday in the northeastern Thai town of Khon Kaen.

"We will talk about the impact of SARS to trade and how the members will cooperate to reduce it," Thai Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik said.

The impact SARS has had on tourism arrivals to Thailand has ruined the country's expectations that hosting a series of APEC meetings in preparation for the APEC summit in October in Bangkok would help promote its tourism industry.

Since it first emerged last November in China, SARS has killed more than 760 people globally and sickened more than 8,300.

Last year, APEC leaders agreed to a package of measures designed to strengthen security in international trade and travel.

But Adisai said the high costs of new screening equipment may deter some countries from having it installed by 2005, the agreed date.

APEC, set up in 1989, consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

With a combined population of more than 2.5 billion, APEC generates gross domestic product of US$19 trillion, or 47 percent of international commerce.