Southeast Asia visitor number decline due to H1N1 predicted

Figures published earlier this week by the Strategic Intelligence Centre of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) suggest that Southeast Asia will see international arrivals fall this year by around four per cent, as compared with 2008.

According to PATA, it is possible that the continuing spread of the H1N1 virus will undermine the confidence of both business and leisure travellers even further, and see more drastic preventative measures implemented by regional governments, organizations and businesses, reducing the amount of cross-border travel.

Greg Duffell, the president and CEO of PATA, said: “It is clear that we must now apply the knowledge, expertise and lessons learned from the SARS crisis of 2003 and recent outbreaks of the Avian Influenza A (H5N1).”

The PATA updates were presented at a meeting of Skal Thailand.

PATA has said that it will post an advisory bulletin on its website with H1N1 FAQs coming out of the Tourism Emergency Response Network (TERN) meeting also held this week.

TERN comprises members of the world’s leading tourism associations, and was launched in April 2006 in Washington, DC by Francesco Frangialli, the secretary-general of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) at that time.

Thanks to www.travelmole.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.