Good value and no smog key to tourism recovery

Good value and no smog key to tourism recovery

SINGAPORE (Reuters): Southeast Asia's bruised tourism industry
could rebound if the thick smog that blanketed much of the region
last year does not return, according to tourism officials.

For some countries, the financial crisis that forced the
devaluation of their currencies is helping the tourism industry
by making these countries cheaper, the officials said at the
Pacific Asia Travel Association Travel Mart at the weekend.

"We are using this crisis to promote our strong points, and
that is to give value for money. Shopping and eating is cheaper
in Thailand...," said Chamnam Muangtim, director of the Tourism
Authority of Thailand.

The Southeast Asian tourism industry, which posted visitor
arrival growths of more than 20 percent in 1996, has seen a
contraction in some countries in 1997.

The forecast for 1998 is generally grim, with some countries
such as Singapore looking at an 8-10 percent decline in visitors.
But Thailand and the Philippines are hoping for growth of 7-10
percent because of their cheaper currencies.

Last year, fires that raged in the Sumatra and Kalimantan
areas of Indonesia produced a thick smog that covered much of the
region, leading to flight cancellations, school closures and
pollution-related illnesses.

There have been no fires so far this year in Sumatra, the main
source of smog that blanketed peninsular Malaysia and Singapore
last year, but the fires are raging in East Kalimantan, on Borneo
Island. Some fires have also burned in Sabah and Sarawak states
in Eastern Malaysia.

Sarawak, on northwest Borneo, saw a 6.7 percent growth in
overseas visitors in 1997 to 283,000 from the previous year. But
visitor arrivals fell significantly from late last year, said
Sarawak Tourism Board executive Jean-Christophe Robles-Espinoza.

He said Sarawak was poised for strong growth, once the fires
raging on the Indonesian side of Borneo island are out, due to
the intense media spotlight on the region.

"There is a positive image that is being created (of this
region). Without it (haze) we are looking at a rosy picture,"
Robles-Espinoza said.

"The localized fires (in Sarawak) are now under control. The
big question is the fires in Kalimantan," he added.

While the smog is the key to recovery for some countries,
others are waiting for an end to the regional economic crisis.

Singapore and Hong Kong did not devalue their currencies and
thus are not cheaper. They also are being hurt by a sharp decline
in regional travel as people in crisis-hit countries stay home.

As a result, Singapore and Hong Kong have seen visitor
arrivals in the first two months of 1998 plunge by 19.2 and 24.5
percent from a year earlier.

"If the region settles its environmental and economic
problems, we can look forward to going back to pre-crisis, pre-
haze levels by the end of next year," said Michael Lim, deputy
director of marketing communications with the Singapore Tourism
Board.