Tourist industry remains uncertain

Agence France-Presse, Paris

Clouds of uncertainty still hang over the tourism industry after the Sept.11 attacks in the United States but government officials are confident the sector will bounce back, the OECD said here Friday.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic, Cooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of industrialized nations, said after a meeting of industry and government experts that "long term prospects for the industry remain positive."

But OECD spokesman Stephen Di Biasio noted that experts considered it was still too early to asses fully the impact of the attacks.

They therefore "recommended that governments undertake a detailed national assessment of the impact on their tourist industries," the OECD said.

Despite persisting uncertainty about the impact of the attacks, both government and industry representatives are "pinning their hopes on a general recovery in the (global) economy" to boost the industry," Di Biasio said.

But so far governments have been showing more optimism regarding the industry's prospects than has the private sector, the OECD said.

"Governments agreed that the overall impact on tourism is moderate," commented Alain Dupeyras, head of the OECD's transport division.