SARS gives tourism industry another blow
By Elisha Mayallah
Tourism flows have always
been of high alert, subject to realization of many external causes for example:
disease, political policies, crime and violence, social instability and
terrorism, among others.
In the wake of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) the deadly disease
that has the potential to spread faster and kill in a short time, with China,
Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada being the most hard hit countries so far, the
likelihood of business boom for the tourism industry has again been shattered
worldwide.
SARS the flu-like illness that has killed about 300 people so far is said to
have developed in China some months ago – then spread by air passengers. Now
SARS is today's World new challenge.
As with so much of this new disease, thousands of tourists have had their plans
for dream holidays in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Canada thrown into turmoil
by the killer SARS epidemic.
As the number of SARS victim soars and mounting panic over the illness spread
across the world, economists warn that panic over the disease could cause
financial turmoil across the world. The panic over SARS appears more dangerous
than SARS itself.
Already, tourism businesses across the world have seen revenues hit hard by the
September 11 terrorist attacks in the US, war on Iraq (Gulf war II) and now the
spread of SARS. Airlines, hotels, tour operators and retailers are among the
worst affected, with travel and tourism under intense pressure throughout the
World.
The global airline industry body, IATA, said the plunge in air travel to and
from Asia because of SARS was devastating for airlines in the World. It predicts
that the already troubled industry would lose about US$ 10 billion this year
after cumulative losses of US$ 30 billion up to last year.
When a holiday destination is in Africa, a continent associated with civil wars,
Aids and Ebola, terrorism, and now the likely to-be-imported SARS: the answer to
the future of the International tourism business is not a mystery. For most of
the tourism destination in Africa there will be a decrease in tourist arrivals.
After all this, one wonders: how long will these situations last? Uncertainty
will take long and that the tourism industry will suffer. No doubt change of
plans and decrease of travel bookings to many destinations will soon than latter
be real.
In East Africa: Kenya, through the Minister of Tourism Mr. Raphael Tuju
predicted to have two million visitors yearly, and Tanzania has of late recorded
more than 550, 000 visitors. These are positive predictions and developments but
the reality, now with the SARS epidemic, is getting far more than possible.
It is high time we dedicate and address ourselves to a large continent's tourism
industry market share on our doorstep, as the International tourism environment
continues to change for many reasons.
E-mail contact:
ermayallah@hotmail.com,
ermayallah@yahoo.com
