SARS fears hammer travel firms

But not since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has Robert Ha's travel agency been hit so hard.

The latest industry scourge is severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and as fears over the mystery virus become as epidemic as the sickness itself, agencies like Ha's are struggling again to maintain business in a rolling climate of fear.

Ha, general manager of Asia Travel in the International District Chinatown, said he does about two-thirds of his business in Asia, particularly in the hard-hit hub Hong Kong.

But he's seen close to half of his business slipping away as travelers shun Asia to avoid catching the contagious virus.

"They just don't want to take the chance," he said. "They want to wait awhile to make sure everything settles down."

The war in Iraq was supposed to be the big coffin nail for travel. And while the war certainly had the negative impact consultants expected, the SARS outbreak has done far more damage.

"It's just kind of a one-two punch," said Loren Dethlefs, consultant with Oregon agency Premier Travel. "The traveling public was already wary following Sept. 11 and they were just starting to get back on when things heated up in the Middle East" — and now this.

Dethlefs estimates that the industry was down about 10 percent as war with Iraq loomed, but has dropped to about 15 percent because of SARS. And that's only compared to last year, when travel wasn't exactly booming.

Though Asian travel is taking the brunt of it, trips to Europe and especially Canada have also declined as new outbreaks are reported there, Dethlefs said. Leisure travel all over was the first to go, but business trips have increasingly been postponed or called off as well.

Yesterday, Wal-Mart Stores said it temporarily barred its employees from traveling to Toronto because of the spread of the SARS virus there from Asia.

It also said any staff returning to the United States from Toronto or China, Singapore or Vietnam, were being asked to stay home for 10 days for an "observation period."

Some other major U.S. companies have discouraged travel to Toronto during the SARS outbreak, which has seen 242 cases in Canada, and 10 deaths, mostly in the Toronto area.

U.S. airlines yesterday said traffic fell last week to the worst levels of the year. "The world situation continues to play havoc with the airline marketplace," said Jim May, president of the Air Transport Association (ATA), the industry's lead trade organization.

For the week ended April 6, the association said systemwide traffic for the biggest U.S. carriers declined 17.4 percent compared with the same period a year ago.

Domestic air travel fell almost 15 percent, while transatlantic and transpacific travel was off more than 25 percent.

"Business is slow, but it could be anything," said Yee Onz at Passport Photos in the Chinatown International District, which supplies documentation for visas and passports.

The ATA's May said the association's projections for the effect of the war were proving accurate. "In addition, there is clear evidence that the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is also having an impact on the demand for air travel," he said in a statement.

That's the all-too-familiar formula Munish Sangar is seeing.

"It's just killing business," Sangar, vice president of Seattle's Justfares.com, said of SARS. "And there's nothing we can do about it."

The company can't pin its hopes on domestic business, as other agencies have, because it doesn't offer it. So instead it's shifted its focus to ethnic travelers, who he said are likely to visit friends and relatives in their native country no matter what.

In the Chinatown International District at Universal Tours, which specializes in travel to Southeast Asia, business is down 25 percent this month, said Manager Kenn Iseli.

"The phones just aren't ringing and I don't think it's war in Iraq that's keeping people away.

"But the travel business is always cyclical. We'll survive."

For most agencies, waiting it out seems to be the only solution. Peak traveling season is approaching, and — as always — business will depend on all those families looking to take their two weeks' vacation.

"I hope they can clear (SARS) up before summer," he said. "Otherwise, everyone is going to be in big trouble."

Lisa Heyamoto: 206-464-2149 or lheyamoto@seattletimes.com.

Seattle Times reporter Bradley Meacham and news services contributed to this report.