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.