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Tourism Industry Will Survive Tsunami Blow
Southeast Asia's tourism industry has lost billions of dollars since killer tsunamis struck last month but is expected to bounce back quickly, ministers said yesterday. Tourism ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) agreed at a meeting here to intensify marketing co-operation to woo tourists and assure them the December 26 calamity was an isolated event.
The group is also turning inwards, with plans to ease visa restrictions to boost intra-Asean travel and offset losses due to cancellations by long-haul travellers, officials said.
In Southeast Asia the earthquake-generated waves pounded mainly southwest Thailand and western Indonesia and to a lesser degree Burma and Malaysia, but Malaysian Tourism Minister Leo Michael Toyad said the entire region has been seen overseas as a disaster zone.
The region has appealed to Western countries to withdraw travel advisories warning their citizens against holidaying in Asean countries, he said.
"We have made a plea to other countries to be sensitive to countries affected (by tsunamis) in terms of travel advisories," he said.
But he predicted the industry would be back on its feet for the next peak season in November.
"Within the next few weeks, we should see tourists coming in. By the end of this year, we should see marked improvement.. by the end of 2006, things should come back to normal," he said.
Indonesian Tourism Minister Jero Wacik said arrivals dipped initially but the government was confident of achieving its target of six million tourists this year, up from 5.3m in 2004. The devastation in Aceh province, where more than 170,000 people died, was immense but popular tourist destinations such as Bali, Surabaya and Jakarta were untouched, he said.
Officials said plans for an early warning system in the Indian Ocean would help rebuild confidence. Tourism is a major revenue-earner for Asean members, generating $27.7 billion in 2002 - excluding Brunei - or 4.8pc of Asean's gross domestic product.
The Asean Tourism Association (Aseanta) has projected tourist arrivals to surge to 56m in 2006, up from nearly 50m expected this year.
Langkawi, Malaysia 23/01/2005
