Asian tourism shows resilience after tsunami

Asian tourism shows resilience after tsunami

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Travel bookings to Thailand and Sri Lanka, two of the hardest hit
countries in the tsunami disaster, have shown a strong rebound
two weeks after the devastation, a major booking agency said
Tuesday.

Abacus International, Asia's largest air ticketing and
reservations company, said in a statement net bookings in the
week ended Jan. 9 soared 136 percent for Thailand compared with
the previous week, and was up 176 percent for Sri Lanka.

In the week immediately after the Dec. 26 tsunami devastation
across Asia, net bookings fell 57.9 percent for Thailand and 73.9
percent for Sri Lanka.

The number of cancellations to affected resort destinations in
Phuket and Krabi in Thailand and Penang and Langkawi in Malaysia
have generally declined, with net bookings -- bookings minus
cancellations -- improving in the week from Jan. 3 to Jan. 9 over
the previous week.

Abacus also noted bookings and net arrivals into China, Hong
Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Pakistan, Australia, New
Zealand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia increased in the past two
weeks.

The latest data suggested leisure travellers were "choosing to
travel to other destinations in the region while reconstruction
work in affected destinations is underway," Abacus president and
chief executive Don Birch said.

Bookings to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Mumbai -- which
escaped the giant waves triggered by a massive Indian Ocean
earthquake of the Indonesian island of Sumatra -- also rose in
the week ended Jan. 9, Abacus said.

"Already we are starting to see a recovery in affected
markets," Birch said.

"Travel is incredibly resilient and we know from experience
that recovery time is surprisingly short following a crisis. I am
confident that travel to the worst affected destinations will be
close to its previous levels within six months," he said.

Birch said the impact of the disaster was unlikely to affect
the region's economic growth, echoing similar projections by
other economists.

"Travel to resorts represents only a small percentage of the
120 million international journeys forecast for next year in
Asia-Pacific," Birch said.

The death toll from the disaster topped 157,000, most of them
from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Millions more have been
rendered homeless.