ECONOMY: Asia Expects Tourist Boom This Year

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Clive Freeman

BERLIN, Mar 15 2004 (IPS) - After a shock slump in travel levels last year, ebullient Southeast Asian country representatives at an international fair in Berlin are expecting a major turn-around in Asian tourism fortunes for 2004.

More than 10,000 exhibitors – a record number – from 178 countries are in Berlin for this year’s International Tourism Bourse (ITB). Many come from Asia. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia. Brunei, Vietnam, China and India all have prominent stands in ITB.

"Naturally the Madrid bombing massacre last Thursday shocked us all," said Sam Appadurai, the Frankfurt-based director of Malaysia’s Tourism Promotion Board. "It’s a real tragedy and all sensible people condemn the attack."

Appadurai, however, does not believe this latest terrorist outrage will have negative consequences for global tourism. "It’s not as if holiday resorts were deliberately targeted," he said.

Most other Southeast Asian tourist chiefs have reacted in similar vein, saying history has shown that appalling as such terrorist acts are they tend to be forgotten within a few months, as people in the affected areas tried "getting on with their lives."

Appadurai said that while Malaysia’s tourist numbers sagged last year because of the fear of SARS there were now signs of "robust recovery."

"January saw a record number of tourist arrivals in the country" he told IPS. "We attracted 1.4 million people, with the main bulk coming from Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, and also from China and India in greater Asia.

China and India had become stable tourist source markets, said Appadurai when forecasting that "big increases" were anticipated from these two countries.

Also important had been the growth in tourist arrivals from the Middle East in recent years.

"It’s not just Saudi Arabia, but also countries like the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait," he explained. Malaysia had extended its tourist networks by opening tourist promotion offices in Syria and in the Iranian capital, Tehran, he said.

From Europe, most tourists to Malaysia nowadays come from Britain, followed by visitors from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

It has been disclosed at the ITB taking place March 12-16 that on March 28 Malaysian Airlines (MAS) plan Frankfurt-Kuching flights via Kuala Lumpur, offering German travellers the convenience of only one stop in the capital before arriving in Sarawak.

Meanwhile, Lufthansa is to introduce four weekly services between Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt via Bangkok, also on March 28.

With these new flights, the German carrier will once again connect Malaysia with Europe via its hub in Frankfurt. = 03150945 ORP006 NNNN ZCZC ORP007 QS [ SPAM SCORE/REQ: 07.10/05.00] ROMAIPS EU AP IF ECONOMY: Asia Expects Tourist Boom This Year(2-E)

Michael Fley, Hong Kong’s Tourism Board chief for Central Europe told IPS that the "SARS scare" had led to a more than 30 per cent drop in tourist arrivals last year. "Tourism just didn’t happen between April and June 2003 when we were almost 90 per cent down on 2002 levels, he said.

So far this year, it has been a different story. "Long haul travel is definitely back in favour again, especially with the Germans, thanks to the strong Euro," he says. The United States, too, could expect major tourist increases this year.

"They (the U.S.) have really been suffering in the last couple of years when they slumped to 1.2 million visitors from the German market. Now they expect double digit tourist growth again," he said.

Indonesia, long a participating country at the ITB, has used this year’s Fair to unveil its, ‘Indonesia, Ultimate in Diverity’ new branding.

According to the nation’s tourist and culture minister, I. Gede Ardika, it aims to project "a positive image of Indonesia," which, he claims," is the most varied destination anywhere."

Challenges facing the country meant the old brand image – "Indonesia, Just a Smile Away," first introduced in 2001 – was no longer adequate, said Udin Saifuddein, Indonesia’s deputy minister for tourist marketing.

Thailand has its biggest-ever delegation at the ITB, with a total of 110 organisations sharing 60 booths on a total floor area of 504 square metres at its stand.

Phornsiri Manahan, the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s deputy governor for international markets, says its strong presence at the Berlin fair indicates the country’s concern to see a rebound in the German and European market.

"We want to increase the number of high-spending long-stayers from Germany and Europe as a whole," she said.

Thailand is using the ITB as a launch pad for a new sales catalogue produced in cooperation with the national tourist offices of Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

It seeks to persuade the world and Europe in particular, that Thailand serves not only as a desirable destination but also as a gateway and a hub with great air and road linkages.

Travel experts here predict a "strong recovery" for the world’s tourism industry in 2004, as it seeks to put a year of war, terrorism and health worries behind it.

That is the bullish view of the World Travel and Tourism Council, which talks of provisional tourism figures for 2004 being "extremely encouraging". WTTC president Jean Claude Baumgarten admits figures still fall short of pre-11 September levels but, "we are getting there".

A WTTC report issued on March 9 predicts that in 2004 there will be "phenomenal tourism growth" in China and India in 2004. The two countries are being tipped to record annual increases of 8.7 per cent and 8.8 per cent respectively over the next decade.

Other rising stars include Montenegro, Angola, Guadeloupe, Fiji, Uganda and Laos, all of which are predicted to enjoy strong growth over the next decade, according to the report.