Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri yesterday urged foreign governments to lift travel restrictions on Asia and Pacific countries, saying they fail to curb the threat of terrorism and only serve to hurt local economies.
"Terrorism must be fought, not feared," Megawati said at the opening of a three-day conference of the Pacific Asia Travel Association in Bali.
The president said such restrictions do "not lessen the threat of terrorism and benefit the economy even less."
The conference comes at a difficult time for the travel industry in Asia. Still reeling from the Oct. 12 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, airlines, hotels and other travel-related businesses are now being hit hard by the Iraq war and the spread of the deadly mystery illness known as severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS.
Association President Peter de Jong said that medical and security issues would top discussion at the conference, being attended by representatives from over 40 countries. The group would make a series of recommendations Wednesday aimed at helping revive the battered industry.
Bali is an example of how the terror threat has hurt the industry region-wide.
The bombings that left 202 people dead prompted the US, Britain and Australia to slap travel advisories against visiting Indonesia. These remain in place despite Jakarta's repeated pleas for them to be lifted. Other countries in Southeast Asia have been subject to similar travel warnings.
The attack caused hotel occupancy rates in Bali to drop into the single digits and emptied its beaches and temples. Tourist have started trickling back in recent months but the war and fears of SARS have dampened expectations for a full recovery.
Tourism is Indonesia's largest non-oil-and-gas foreign exchange earner, bringing in over US$5 billion last year. It provides jobs for about 12 million people.
In the Philippines, tourists have been scared off by the rise in bombings and kidnappings by Muslim militants.
More recently, the SARS outbreak -- which has now killed more than 130 people worldwide, mostly in mainland China and Hong Kong -- has hit regional tourism hard, causing airlines to cut back on flights and prompting to the US to issue an advisory against nonessential travel to China.
An advisory from the WHO has suggested that travelers avoid visiting Hong Kong or neighboring Guangdong province, and Cathay Pacific Airways' load factors have reportedly plummeted from about 30,000 passengers a day to below 10,000. The travel association promotes tourism in Asian and Pacific countries by bringing together governments, state and city tourism bodies, travel industry companies and 55 airline and cruise companies.
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