SARS updates: No rebound in sight for Asia tourism

Travel in China remains restricted because of the SARS outbreak, which has prompted quarantines, school closures and widespread fear.

While the odds of getting severe acute respiratory syndrome in China are low for most visitors, Ron Williams, of the medical evacuation service MedAire, reports that Chinese authorities will force anyone suspected of having SARS into local hospitals, where he said "the chance of getting the infection ... is high."

If you have SARS or an illness with SARS-like symptoms (which include cough and fever), commercial airlines also may refuse to let you board planes. That leaves secondary evacuation routes for seriously ill people: private jets at $2,000 to $3,000 an hour or air ambulances at about $5,000 an hour for those who don't have special medical-evacuation insurance.

Moreover, for anyone who is injured or seriously ill while traveling (with SARS or other diseases), the nearest countries with quality medical facilities aren't viable options for treatment.

Hong Kong is straining with SARS cases, and Thailand and Singapore have refused landings to private jets and air ambulances with sick patients because of fear of SARS.

The U.S. Commerce Department recently pulled employees from China, not because of SARS but because the disease had closed off the usual options of places to evacuate anyone seriously injured or sick.

(The pneumonialike SARS had been reported in 29 countries with more than 6,700 probable cases and 478 deaths as of midweek, according to the World Health Organization.)

Travel warnings

Travelers should postpone non-essential trips to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control continued to recommend last week.

However, the CDC downgraded its travel advisory against nonessential travel to Singapore to a less-serious travel alert last week and also downgraded its travel advisory for Vietnam.

While SARS cases remain in both places, public-health authorities have staunched the spread of the viral disease. For details on SARS and advice for travelers, see the CDC Web site (www.cdc.gov).

The World Health Organization continued to advise against travel to Hong Kong, parts of southern China and Beijing. See the United Nations agency's Web site for extensive SARS information (www.who.int/en/).

The CDC never considered SARS sufficiently threatening in Toronto, despite some cases and deaths there, to warn against visiting the city. However, WHO did advise against travel to the Canadian city, then canceled the warning in late April. Toronto's tourism plunged because of the WHO warning and hotels have slashed prices to lure back travelers.

Hotels boost disinfection

Hotels and public places across Asia are stepping up cleaning to combat SARS and restore travelers' confidence. Along with encouraging employees to wash their hands frequently, many hotels are scrubbing guest rooms, public areas and even hotel limousine interiors with bleach to kill any SARS viruses.

At the Shanghai Portman Ritz-Carlton in China, the country hardest hit by SARS, all guests have to complete a health-declaration form and have their temperature taken when they check in, said hotel spokeswoman Michelle Denise Wan. All employees are required to have their temperature checked daily, and many wear masks.

'Lost season' for tourism

The SARS outbreak tops off a turbulent decade for Southeast Asia's tourism industry, which has had to weather the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s, the fallout of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and the Bali bombing last year.

"We have never faced such a critical period," said Kathryn Loh, general manager at Siam Express, a Singapore travel agency where the phones are silent and employees are on unpaid leave. Travel agents say none of their woes in Asia has been as crippling as SARS, which has forced airlines to cancel huge numbers of flights to the region and driven visitor arrivals into a nosedive.

"We may lose the whole summer," said Loh, who said tour bookings for June plunged 80 percent from a year ago. Usually it's one of the busiest times of the year for Southeast Asia's travel industry, with hordes of travelers flocking to its beach resorts, tropical rain forests and multicultural cities.

In Hong Kong, one of the areas most affected by SARS, tourist arrivals slumped about 70 percent in April compared with the same month last year, estimated the Hong Kong Tourist Board.

In Thailand, Suparerk Soorangura, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said arrivals from Europe were expected to drop an average of 30 percent this June from last year.