Asians urge world govts to avoid travel bans
Asians urge world govts to avoid travel bans
Joe McDonald, Associated Press, Beijing
Tourism officials of 13 Asian countries appealed to other governments on Saturday not to hurt the region's recovery from SARS by indiscriminately discouraging travel following the car bombing of Jakarta's Marriott Hotel.
The appeal came at a meeting of officials from China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries who were discussing how to revive tourism after the outbreak, which devastated airlines, hotels and other travel-dependent businesses.
The officials, who included Cabinet ministers and officials of national tourism boards, "strongly condemn this act of terrorism as a heinous and ruthless crime against humanity," said a joint statement issued at the end of the one-day meeting.
It said they "call on the international community to avoid indiscriminately advising their citizens to refrain from visiting, as such measures could help achieve the objective of terrorists."
The United States, Britain and other governments issued advisories against nonessential travel to Indonesia following the Jakarta bombing Tuesday, which killed 10 people and wounded 150.
Indonesia, where tourism is a major industry, already was reeling from a drop in travel after a bombing that targeted Australian tourists on the island of Bali killed 202 people last year.
Officials at the Beijing meeting declared support for efforts to catch the Jakarta bombers and said such attacks wouldn't derail efforts to repair damage to tourism from severe acute respiratory syndrome.
"As a group, we will not allow terrorist activity to disrupt our plans," Lim Neo Chian, deputy chairman of the Singapore Tourism Board, said at a news conference.
SARS, which killed more than 800 people worldwide, most of them in Asia, devastated travel as tourists and businesspeople heeded warnings to avoid infected areas.
In China, lost revenues this year due to SARS are expected to total 270 billion yuan (US$32 billion), said Vice Premier Wu Yi, the official in charge of China's anti-SARS efforts.