Asia-Pacific travel industry to rebound despite crisis

Rita A. Widiadana and Fitri Wulandari, Nusa Dua, Bali

Businesspeople, involved in tourism in the Asia-Pacific region currently meeting in Bali, are mostly optimistic that the tour and travel industry would recover quickly from the onslaught of negative world events of late.

Don Birch, president and CEO of Singapore-based Abacus International, noted on Tuesday that although the regional travel industry is facing an unprecedented "double-whammy" of attacks from the war and the outbreak of Severe Acute respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the travel industry was fighting back.

"Industry leaders are not going to let wars and other troubles derail and stifle business in the long term," Birch remarked.

Abacus International provides travel information and reservations to travel-related businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.

Birch further said that from past experience in troubled times, Asians still traveled but preferred to stay close to home.

"As long as the war in Iraq is short and SARS continues to be contained, I am confident that travel across the region will return to stable levels again by the end of the year," he added.

Birch added that history had shown that the travel industry is a resilient one.

"With the travel industry working together, we are more proactive about using past experiences to take measures to mitigate the worst effects," he said.

While the war in Iraq was already expected by many who might have planned accordingly, SARS crept up on everybody in Asia, especially in East and Southeast Asia.

Industries ranging from shipping to electronics, insurance to travel are paying close attention to SARS.

John M. Koldowski, managing director of Strategic Information Center of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said he noticed positive developments in a number of countries in the region responding to the SARS outbreak.

Malaysia, for instance, is reportedly considering easing up on its SARS screening for travelers coming from affected areas such as China and Hong Kong.

"I have to further check with the Malaysian authorities. But at least this is a positive sign to the regional travel industry," Koldowski told PATA's session on global medical emergencies on Tuesday.

Since the outbreak of SARS, first detected in Guangzhou, China, a number of countries have imposed special medical strictures for visa applicants from affected countries.

SARS has so far caused more than 140 fatalities in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and a handful of others with more than 2,600 infected.

The disease has caused tremendous social and economic impacts with many international conferences and shows canceled. Flight reductions and cancellations, industry layoffs, travel bookings to some areas in Asia are down by up to 50 percent.

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia's Senior Executive Vice President for Commerce Bachrul Hakim, acknowledged that specific routes to affected countries such as routes plying Manado-Taipei and Medan-Singapore had been temporarily halted until May 15.

"We will reevaluate on a daily basis whether we will again open the routes," Bachrul said.

Nevertheless, he said, Garuda maintained that its route plying Jakarta-Guangzhou three times a week. Guangzhou is where the SARS outbreak is believed to have originated.

Yahya Kisyanto, a medical professor and chairman of the Indonesian Travel Society, also expressed optimism over the prospects for the Asian travel industry.

"We are now going in the right direction and coping with the threat posed by SARS," he said.

It is important for all governments to be open and transparent in informing the public about SARS and its impact and how to treat patients.

"The whole world is now working together to combat the disease and world-class scientists and doctors are now working hard to zero in on the virus believed to cause the atypical pneumonia," Yahya said.

The PATA meeting comprises more than 900 delegates from the region "This is the right event for people involved in tourism to gain more insight and knowledge on SARS and how to deal with the problem."

Compared to previous weeks when the majority of people including those in the travel industry were in a state of panic, now people are beginning to understand and to be more well- prepared in the face of SARS, Yahya said.