Travel updates: Asia tourism industry battles SARS

Asian travel and tourism officials are fighting the fallout of terrorism and the deadly SARS virus that have ravaged their industry.

Industry officials have been particularly critical of sweeping travel advisories issued by governments, including the United States, warning against visiting countries hit by violence or disease. (The World Health Organization also has warned against travel to Hong Kong and parts of southern China because of the outbreak of SARS, severe acute respiratory syndrome.)

"We're going to say: 'Hey you just cannot issue travel advisories for a long time,' "said Richard Gordon, chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, who is also tourism secretary of the Philippines. Critics say travel advisories often apply to whole countries when only small areas are effected, and are slow to be lifted even after problems have been largely dealt with.

PATA's 42-nation conference last week in Bali, Indonesia, focused on how to deal with the effects of unpredictable events such as terrorist attacks and Asia's SARS outbreak.

About 200 people, including many Western tourists, died in a nightclub bomb blast in Bali in October. Now SARS, partly spread by travelers, has infected more 3,400 people and killed about 160 in more than 20 countries (as of midweek when the Travel section was printed) after first showing up in southern China in November.

In Asia, the fear of SARS has decimated travel. Flights are grounded, hotels empty and tourists scarce in Hong Kong, Singapore and other areas.

But fiscal reverberations are felt from Australia — where 1,000 Qantas airline employees were laid off since tourism and flights to Asia have declined — to Bangkok, a recent Mecca for Chinese tourists, who now can no longer obtain a visa for Thailand. In Malaysia, the government has closed its borders to most travelers from the most infected countries.

Economists are downgrading forecasts for Asian economies because of SARS' impacts. The Morgan Stanley investment firm has cut its forecast for 2003 economic growth across the region (excluding Japan) to 4.5 percent from 5.1 percent, citing an expected 60 percent drop in tourism in the second quarter of this year.

Delta starts low-cost carrier

Delta Air Lines has launched its low-cost subsidiary airline, Song, in hopes of sharpening its competitive position against the established low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways.

Song made its debut with flights from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Florida. The carrier will add flights the next few months between other cities in the eastern and southern U.S.

Atlanta-based Delta could use a little good news.

In December, the airline made it more difficult for business travelers to achieve elite frequent-flier status if they fly on heavily discounted tickets.

Following that, Delta became the first airline to participate in a federally advocated computerized security program that collects personal information on passengers to help the government screen for potential terrorists. Both moves were met by travelers' protests.

Oregon suffers a tourism slump

Take a drive on U.S. 101 through resort towns along the central Oregon coast, and it's hard not to notice the large number of "vacancy" signs at hotels and resorts.

"We are bumping along at the bottom," said Paul Haggerty, general manager of the Embarcadero Resort in Newport.

Inns, motels, hotels and restaurants say Oregon tourism hasn't come out of the slump that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and then was compounded by the economic recession and the Iraq war.

Tourism is down in other parts of the state as well, including central Oregon. "Right now, the growth curve is basically flat," said Gary Peters, president of the Bend Chamber of Commerce.

Hoping to turn things around for Oregon's tourism business, some officials have advocated a new 1 percent statewide lodging tax (local room taxes already are imposed, with Portland's, at 11.5 percent). It would raise up to $9 million annually for marketing Oregon as a tourist destination.

— Seattle Times staff and news services