`Asian travel industry to fully recover this year'

`Asian travel industry to fully recover this year'

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Asia's SARS-battered travel industry should fully recover this
year as the virus is contained and cheap plane ticket prices lure
back travelers, a key industry player said Thursday.

The industry is well on its way back to recovery, with the
rebound led by travel within the region, according to Abacus,
Asia's largest air ticketing and reservation company.

"The SARS recovery has started, is established and we should
return to pre-SARS travel levels in July as the virus is
contained and promotions attract travelers," Abacus chief
executive Don Birch said.

"I say this because going into 2003, we had anticipated the
possibility of war in Iraq. We also know from experience that in
troubled times, Asians still travel but prefer to stay close to
home.

"Fortunately, the numbers are reflecting that as bookings are
returning to 2002 levels... we're optimistic we will see a full
recovery this year," Birch said in a statement.

Abacus said the lowest point during the SARS crisis was in the
week from March 30 to April 5 "when the Asian travel industry
came to a virtual standstill" as bookings drastically fell and
airlines began cutting flights.

Figures from Abacus, which operates in 20 countries across the
region, showed that intra-Asia travel has reached nearly 500,000
by mid-June from a low of just over 100,000 in the week from
March 30 to April 5.

However, this is still below the nearly 600,000 figure in
early March. Abacus normally receives over one million intra-Asia
bookings a month.

Bookings from Asia to the United States also increased to
nearly 25,000 in mid-June from below 10,000 in late March to
early April.

"We are entering a stage of recovery that we have seen before.
SARS is just another manifestation of a series of events that the
industry has had to face head on," said Birch, citing the
September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the Bali bomb
blasts last year.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has killed about 800
people out of more than 8,000 infections worldwide since it broke
out in November in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and
was spread globally by travelers.

Most of the fatalities were in East Asia, which has also borne
the brunt of the disease's economic fallout.

Travelers shunned the region for fear of being infected with
the pneumonia-like virus that still has no known antidote,
wreaking havoc on airlines, hotels and other travel-related
businesses.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has removed most of the
region from its list of SARS-affected areas after authorities
contained the outbreak.

Taiwan, the only remaining area in the WHO blacklist, is
hoping to be stricken off this week after reporting no new SARS
cases for the 18th day running on Thursday.

The WHO requires no local transmissions for 20 days before
removing an area from its list.