ASEAN declares haze over, urges tourists to return
ASEAN declares haze over, urges tourists to return
SINGAPORE (AFP): The smoky haze that affected Southeast Asia for months is over, a joint statement from ASEAN members said Thursday, urging tourists to return to a region now basking in "blue skies and brilliant sunshine".
"We are pleased to announce that Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are totally clear of the smoke haze that has been affecting parts of Southeast Asia for the past few months," a statement issued by the ASEAN National Tourism Organizations said.
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Brunei, Burma, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam were spared from the environmental catastrophe.
The haze from bush fires in Indonesian provinces started to choke parts of the region in August generating air pollution, reduced visibility, an outbreak of respiratory diseases, and driving thousands of foreign tourists away.
"It is safe for visitors to travel to the region now and enjoy blue skies and brilliant sunshine," the statement said.
It said Indonesian officials advised that "all fires in the Indonesian provinces of Sumatra and Kalimantan have been extinguished and that all airports have been fully operational since Nov. 17," the statement said.
Regional weather experts last week declared the haze over, with the onset of the northeast monsoon season and accompanying rains and winds as well as the effective control of the fires.
For the past three weeks, it has been raining in all Indonesia provinces including those that were temporarily affected by the smoke haze, the ASEAN statement said.
Tourism departments "have launched a series of post-haze initiatives to stimulate arrivals to Southeast Asia," it said, without elaborating.
Resorts in Malaysia and Indonesia have announced discounts on room rates to attract tourists, who kept away from the region.
Singapore disclosed last week that tourist arrivals in the island -- the main aviation hub in Southeast Asia -- dropped 17.6 percent in October from a year ago after travelers were scared off by haze or discouraged by Asia's economic turmoil.
Media reports said the drop in October arrivals to 495,327 was the first year-on-year decline in 14 years, and that a recovery was not expected anytime in the near future.
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) criticized "negative coverage of the smoke pollution by international media" for scaring tourists away.
The fires on Sumatra island and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island ravaged almost one million hectares (2.5 million acres) of forest and grass lands, according to some estimates.
Many of the fires were started deliberately by Indonesian plantation owners and farmers to clear land for cultivation. Firefighters from various countries took part in the effort to extinguish the fires.
Poor visibility caused by the haze was partly blamed for the crash of a Garuda Airlines jetliner in Sumatra which left 234 people dead in late September.