The upcoming Easter holiday has highlighted just how badly Asia's vital tourism industry has been hit by the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus.
At a time when airline and hotel tills would usually be ringing merrily, gloom hangs over most of the region.
Hong Kong's losses will total around US$130 million as half of the tourists who planned to visit over Easter have backed out, said travel industry council head Joseph Tung.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has killed more than 60 people and infected nearly 1,300 in Hong Kong, one of the areas worst-hit by an outbreak which has spread panic worldwide.
In Thailand, "we're seeing a 50 percent drop in business for April," said Suparerk Soorangura, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents.
The Southeast Asian tourism giant has been particularly hard hit by a Chinese ban on organized tours to Thailand, while the steady stream of Western tourists -- 3.8 million last year -- has also slowed.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has called the impact on the industry "critical."
In China, the country worst hit by the outbreak, an agent with the second largest travel agency, China Travel Service, said: "The situation is bad. At least 50 percent of the tour groups have postponed or cancelled their tours.
The Philippines has taken the unusual step of asking its own citizens working in affected areas not to return home for their traditional Easter break.
President Gloria Arroyo asked the tens of thousands of Filipino domestic workers in SARS-hit Hong Kong to make a sacrifice and forego their holiday at home.
Bishop Ramon Arguelles, head of the influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, endorsed Arroyo's call, saying: "I know they are lonely and long for their families, but I hope they would be able to bear the loneliness a little longer."
In Taiwan, Hsu Kao-ching, secretary-general of The Travel Agent Association, said the number of foreign tourists had dropped by 50 percent over the past two weeks.
"The majority of our tourists were from Hong Kong during this season in the past, but this year there is almost none," Hsu said.
The Singapore government reported that visitor arrivals plunged 56 percent on the year to 62,500 from April 1 through April 7.
Hotels are reporting only about 20 occupancy rates, compared to 70 percent at the same time last year, said Neil Jacobs, general manager of the Four Seasons Hotel.
Nicholas Tse, sales and marketing manager at the Marriott Singapore, said: "I think we've seen a 50 percent drop in occupancy as compared to last year. It's pretty diabolical."
In Indonesia, the impact of SARS is heavily felt in Batam island near Singapore where foreign arrivals -- mainly from China and Singapore -- were down 30 percent this month, said Yanti Sukamdani, chair of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association.
Tourist arrivals were also down between 15 to 20 percent at the popular Bali resort and about 10 to 15 percent in Jakarta.
"The impact of SARS is the hardest thing that our tourism sector has to endure," Sukamdani said.
Australian Tourism Export Council deputy managing director Greg Thomas said SARS was likely to put a "significant dent" in the US$10.2 billion in exports generated annually by tourism.
Malaysian Association of Hotels president Mohamad Ilyas Zainol Abidin said: "Resort locations are quite badly hit by SARS. We're seeing a 25 percent to 30 percent drop in hotel occupancy this week on the island of Langkawi."
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