THAILAND. Bangkok-based Pacific Asia Travel Association issued a statement today on the US$30 billion cost of SARS in Asia, and the region’s return to steady growth.
The SARS crisis cost Asian economies over seven million jobs and slashed at least US$30 billion off growth estimates this year but effects on the worst-hit countries should be short-lived, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said today.
“The spin-off effects were horrendous,” Peter de Jong, president of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), said in a speech on the eve of the PATA Travel Mart 2003, citing statistics that China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam will lose almost three million front-line tourism jobs.
PATA figures confirm an International Labour Organisation (ILO) report which said that 6.5 million jobs were lost in the global travel industry from 2001 to 2002. The ILO forecasts that a further 5 million jobs are at risk unless consumer confidence in travel and tourism can be restored.
“If we factor in the indirect component, the figure more than doubles to seven million jobs lost in those four destinations alone,” de Jong said.
“That shaves close to US$30 billion off the combined GDP estimates for those destinations this year.”
In May, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported that 25% of China’s tourism industry earnings would be lost, along with a total of 2.8 million industry jobs, or one-fifth of the country’s total tourism employment.
“But more recent data indicates that the bottom has been reached,” said de Jong. “The travel and tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region is recovering. The numbers tell us that.”
“Most flows will have returned to normal by the end of this year,” de Jong said. “All in all we expect a return to aggregate annual growth rates of around +4.0% to +6.0% during 2004.”
For example, Singapore’s arrivals in May contracted by a stunning -70% but in the last week of August, international arrivals were -6% behind the same period last year.
Singapore hotel occupancy rates have also surged back to 69%, nearly reaching the 2002 average of 70%, de Jong said.
In Hong Kong, where May arrivals declined -68%, tourist numbers in July climbed back over the million mark for the first time since March to be also just -6% behind the same period in 2002.
PATA stressed that governments in Asia Pacific should do more to protect and expand their tourism industries and the region has a role as an important generator of global demand. Historically, Asia Pacific has seen astronomical tourism growth, hosting almost 280 million international visitor arrivals in 2002 compared with 152 million in 1990 and 70 million in 1980.
