Travel experts say airfare prices for tour packages may grow by up to 50%

Following the approach of the high-volume travel season from Christmas to Chinese New Year, the prices of travel packages may rise by 50 percent, industry experts said yesterday.

"We expect an increase in prices on group travel from 20 to 50 percent during the season lasting from December to February, mostly owing to a rise in ticket prices," said Roget Hsu (許高慶), secretary-general of Travel Agents Association of the ROC (中華民國旅行公會), which represents some 2,500 travel agencies nationwide.

One example of increased airfares during the holidays is the cost of a ticket on the Taipei to Sydney route.

The roundtrip ticket price during the holiday season will be around NT$38,000, compared to about NT$28,000 during the August to November period.

The industry expects that booming year-end travel can help offset the losses the industry encountered in the second quarter, when the SARS epidemic struck the nation.

"Prior to the outbreak of SARS, we had a domestic travel market of around 100 million travelers," Hsu said. "The disease undercut passenger traffic by as much as 70 to 80 percent."

The waning of SARS' impact, coupled with strong promotional activities by the industry, helped both the domestic and overseas travel market to recover to their pre-SARS levels, another industry watcher said.

"Since July, we have been creating a monthly turnover of around NT$80 million," said Zoe Chen (陳昭安), marketing supervisor of the online agency Star Travel (燦星旅遊網).

"We are optimistic about the forthcoming peak season and hope to create monthly turnover of up to NT$200 million from December to next February," Chen said.

Another industry official expects an increase of up to 15-percent year-on-year, amounting to 1.96 million in outbound traffic.

"For overseas travel destinations, tropical islands throughout Southeast Asia, such as Bali, and Northeast Asian countries like Japan are popular choices," said Johnson Tseng (曾盛海), chairman of the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (台北市旅行公會).

"People who still have qualms about a resurgence of SARS in China may travel to nearby countries, including Japan and Korea," Tseng said.

With Korean-language soap operas, songs and food growing in popularity throughout Asia and especially in Taiwan, the travel industry has seen more and more Taiwanese visitors going to South Korea.

Currently, six airlines offer service on the routes between Taiwan and South Korea, including China Airlines Co (華航), TransAsia Airways (復興), Far Eastern Air Transport Co (遠東) and Korean Air.

In the domestic travel market, Hualien and Kenting are popular destinations.

"Hualien has excellent tourism facilities, including an ocean park and two newly built five-star hotels, which are great attractions to domestic travelers," Hsu said.