The tourism industry across the globe is working urgently to restore confidence in the destinations hit by the December 26 tsunami disaster.
Simultaneously, the industry is raising millions of dollars to help the victims of a tragedy that so far has claimed more than 165,000 lives and destroyed infrastructure in some of Asia's most popular tourist destinations.
The industry is sending out a clear message that Asia remains open for business and even in badly affected areas in southern Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, clean-ups are under way and hotels are re-opening.
The ASEAN Tourism Forum in Langkawi this month, and ITB in Berlin in March, will provide key opportunities for tsunami-affected destinations to update the industry on their recovery efforts.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand has flagged that it will deliver a strong message at ITB that Thailand is well down the road to recovery.
The attitude of most tour operators is mirrored by that of Intrepid Australia, which was among the first travel companies to launch a tsunami funds appeal.
“So many people in these regions rely heavily on tourism and if travellers stop coming it means they will lose their jobs as well,” said Intrepid's Darrell Wade.
Several peak industry bodies such as PATA, UFTAA and AFTA, the Australian
Federation of Travel Agents, have launched appeals for funds to help tsunami victims.
Many private companies and individuals have helped to boost the travel industry's fund-raising efforts.
Airlines have also been quick to respond to the call for aid for victims of the tsunami-devastated regions of the Indian Ocean. Many have contributed cargo and passenger aircraft to deliver urgent goods or speed the repatriation of travellers.
Qantas has donated A$1million to the relief effort.
In the first week of relief operations, Emirates carried more than 455 tonnes of goods in its freighters and scheduled flights from 11 of its destinations to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Maldives.
Airbus gave one million euros and has a A300-600 Super Transporters, nicknamed “Beluga”, at the disposal of the International Red Cross.A priority has been to focus on a united industry response to the crisis. Industry leaders in the United Kingdom met on January 17 to discuss a concerted approach to creating a long-term recovery campaign for tourism to Asia.
UK government ministers, representatives from the affected nations and other members of the travel industry focused on the industry's response to the need to rebuild tourism and reclaim lost livelihoods.
The World Tourism Organisation is among those leading the call for travellers to commit to Asia in a time of crisis and is meeting in Phuket end of January. WTO secretary general, Francesco Frangialli, warned the situation could turn into a “double disaster” if misconception about the impact of the tsunami caused tourists to avoid countries in the region.
He asked governments to draft travel advisories in a “careful and responsible manner” and withdraw them in a timely fashion once the situation improves.
WTO figures show that the 12 Asian and African countries affected by the tsunami received about 31million international arrivals in 2003, earning US$23 billion.
Asia as a whole saw a 37 percent growth in international tourist arrivals in the first eight months of last year – a figure that represents four percent of global tourism market share.
In the UK, Responsibletravel.com founder Justin Francis said, “Local tour operators in Thailand and Sri Lanka are very concerned that the blanket media coverage will paint a picture of uniform destruction which does not represent the truth and will dissuade travellers from booking in 2005."
In Germany, TUI spokesman Robin Zimmermann said the Scandinavian market was much more affected than the Germans. In the immediate days after the tsunami,
most of their customers had switched their bookings from Asia to the Caribbean.
But for the upcoming summer season, he said cancellations and switching would be lesser than now.
“ We believe it will take one or two seasons till the region (especially Thailand and Sri Lanka) will recover. The Maldives will surely recover earlier.”
Understandably, the Americas saw a greater number of cancellations.
“Quite a few VIP clients from the US and Brazil have decided to postpone their trip to another date or choose another destination – between January and February, I would say about 70 percent of my clients.” said Bonnie Braga of Braga Travel Consulting.
She said the cancellation rate was a high 50 percent because “coincidently in both January and February, most of my clients wanted to visit China and Phuket”.
Asked how the information is being disseminated there, she said: “I believe the trade is trying their best to inform the public but sometimes too many repetitive past scenes instead of updated scenes can help to make people more doubtful, therefore postponing their trip or even cancelling.”
San Francisco-based Kaushik Sen of World Travellers’ Club Inc. said the impact has been worsened by unfounded worries among his clients.
“Our office continues to field numerous calls from worried clients whose travel plans whose itineraries include the affected area (eg. sole destination in South-east Asia being Bangkok and Siem Reap or sole destination in India being Rajasthan) and/or who are not due to arrive in the affected area until April 2005!
“There were also concerns of outbreak of diseases and likelihood of further tsunamis. This will divert long-haul US traffic away from Asia to Latin America or the South Pacific, which are currently perceived as ‘safer’ destinations.”
He said 80 percent of his clients who were due to travel to Thailand and Southern India during January/ February have either cancelled their trips or switched to other destinations.
“So far I’ve not seen any effort by the travel trade in the US to inform the public. Why are there no communications efforts from PATA and where are the tourist boards of countries such as Thailand or India at the time of need?”
Many industry pundits are taking hope from the swift recovery of Bali after the 2002 nightclub bombings in Kuta, and Asia’s solid recovery following the SARS outbreak
of 2003. Alex Kyriakidis, a travel and tourism consultant for Deloitte, said governments could lead the recovery process.
“Where governments take assertive action to assist in the restoration process following major tragedies, experience has shown that tourists return”. The role of governments at this time is working with the industry – providing support in the form of grants and other incentives will be crucial to the recovery process,” said Kyriakidis.
“While the major hotel/tour operator groups may have appropriate levels of insurance for an event of this nature and can withstand the shock, it is almost certain that many of the SMEs which are vital to the tourism industry do not.
European tourists, he said, were likely to seek warm destinations in the Arabian Gulf, Caribbean and South America.
“However, history has shown that, once the ‘perception’ that it’s safe to travel returns, coupled with aggressive discounting by operators, the tourists will return. The question this time is, at whose cost?”
