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Residual fears of tsunami continue to dog Asian tourism

Norwegian tourists Anne Vaga, right, and her son, Mads, stand on a boat on Wednesday as they look at a destroyed hotel on Ton Say bay in Phi Phi Island, Thailand, which was hit by the tsunami on Dec. 26. Tourists are returning to Phi Phi Island as tsunami victims urge Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to stop plans to expropriate their land and move them to higher ground. PHOTO: EPA

The Asia-Pacific region could lose as much as US$3 billion in tourist revenue this year because of concerns among international travelers about visiting Asia following the Dec. 26 tsunami, a business executive said yesterday.

The comment by Paul Dowling, a Singapore-based senior vice president of Visa International, came as Visa released a survey that showed some tourists might stay away from Asia even though most resorts were not damaged in the tsunami.

"As a direct result of the tsunami, there is a risk that 9 percent of international travelers planning a holiday in 2005 have switched their travel plans to other regions," the survey said.

The survey had been commissioned by Visa International on behalf of the World Tourism Organization.

The study said that 30 percent of the travelers who were committed to travel in Asia said that "there were countries they would not consider as a result of the tsunami."

Those countries include Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.

The survey was conducted by AC Nielsen, which interviewed 500 respondents in each of 10 countries between Feb. 17 and Feb. 27.

"Concerns over the state of tourism facilities and services in the areas affected by the tsunami are high among those considering Asia," the survey said.

"Health is another area of concern and one where travelers have said they would like more information," it said.

Travelers from Sweden, Canada, Britain and Australia were more likely to take a vacation in tsunami-hit areas as a way of assisting the local community and boosting the local economy, according to the Visa International survey.
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