ASIAN TOURISM

Asian tourism rocky ride in 2009

(Excerpts from article Published: January 22, 2009
by James Pomfret, Reuters)

The facts are as follows:

1. Across Asia -- hotels, airlines and tourism operators are bracing for another tough year as the financial crisis keeps long haul visitors at home, and regional travellers tighten purse-strings with shorter, budget trips. Hong Kong, Thailand and India have suffered sharp contractions, at times worsened by political turmoil, with many projecting negative growth in 2009.

2. Asia's blend of diverse cultures, geography, bargains and exoticism, with travel gems ranging from snowy Himalayan kingdoms to neon-lit capitals, crumbling Khmer ruins and powdery beaches -- have made it one of the world's fastest growing tourism regions in recent years, along with the Middle East.

3. Hong Kong, now one of Asia's top tourist hubs with 29.5 million visitors last year, is predicting visitor arrivals to dip 1.6 percent in 2009, though a steeper drop of 9.2 percent is forecast for non-Chinese visitors.

4. Singapore's tourist arrivals, meanwhile, fell 2 percent last year with more gloom expected, while Thailand and Malaysia both expect 9 percent drops in visitors this year.

5. The U.N.'s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has described the Asia-Pacific region's performance in 2008 as having "deteriorated most rapidly," compared with the Americas, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, with tourism demand expected to be impacted further in the short to medium term. The UNWTO says it expects the decline in trip duration and spending to be "more pronounced" than the fall in arrivals.

6. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned global airlines face their worst business crisis in 50 years with carriers facing possible collapse, revenues tumbling and hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. Some 300,000-400,000 jobs were at risk among some 32 million or so people now employed around the world in air transport, travel and tourism sectors.

7. Despite the extremely fragile situation, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) expects Asia, which lured around 280 million international arrivals in 2008, to bounce back and enjoy 4-5 percent average growth over the next three years.

8. Hotel occupancy rates in the Asia Pacific region fell to 66.7 percent last November, versus 76.4 percent for the same period a year before.

9. People are changing their habits.

10. Political instability and shifting government policies have also exacerbated the strain on the tourism sector in countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Macau.
The weeklong siege of Bangkok's airports tarnished Thailand's reputation as a tourist haven, and caused around a million foreign visitors to cancel or go elsewhere.

11. Thailand's Central Bank recently forecast tourist arrivals could fall 9 percent this year to 12.8 million, the worst year since 2005 after the tsunami disaster.

12. In India, 179 people, including scores of tourists, were killed in November's Mumbai attacks, when gunmen targeted luxury hotels and other popular tourist spots in India's financial capital. The gloom has since spread to places such as Goa, one of the country's top tourist draws where visitor arrivals fell 25 percent during the peak season, according to officials.