TOURISM CATCHES THE FLU

TRAVEL INDUSTRY

Six years after Sars severely affected China's tourism industry, a new virus is stalking the country's travel sector - but in a very different way although the decline in the Chinese visitors to Thailand is mainly attributed to the political unrest rather than from the impact of the new outbreak of the virus.

During the Sars epidemic, China was criticised by much of the world for its slow response and its initial denial of any problem. This time around, China is taking some of the strongest measures anywhere in the world to prevent the entry of H1N1 into the country.

Health workers in white suits board all international flights into China after arrival with thermometers to inspect passengers. If there are any suspected H1N1 cases on board, all or some of the passengers may be quarantined. Not surprisingly, these measures are unpopular with travellers.

Despite China's 1,089 confirmed H1N1 infections, H1N1 has not had any obvious negative impact on China's domestic travel market. International travel, however, is a different story.

Numbers of international travellers in and out of China have dropped substantially in hubs such as Shenzhen, which reported a 16.1% decrease in international arrivals and a 19.5% drop in international departures in May.

Zhao Ming, a Shanghai-based sales executive who frequently travels outside of China, said the most noticeable impact of H1N1 on her work has been delays due to temperature checks.

On a recent trip back to China from South Korea, Ms Zhao said she and other passengers spent two hours getting their temperatures taken before being allowed to exit the airport.

"After we landed, some people in what looked like space suits came onboard and took our temperatures for around one hour," she said. "Then when we got into the airport we spent another hour getting our temperatures taken again. I found it a little annoying.

"Personally, I'm not very worried about contracting H1N1. I'll travel anywhere except maybe Mexico."

In China, H1N1 is certainly seen as a foreign problem with foreigners as potential sources of infection, said Dr Wolfgang Georg Arlt, director of the Germany-based China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (Cotri).

"For outbound tourism it is difficult to distinguish between the impact of the global economic crisis and other influences including H1N1. The impact is also different for different regions," Dr Arlt said. "It's minimal for Europe, bigger for the Americas, especially Mexico and the United States."

For the United States, which according to the World Health Organisation has confirmed more than 21,000 H1N1 infections with 87 deaths, the H1N1 headache appears to be far from over. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that there were as many as one million H1N1 infections in the US, with hospitalisation rates increasing.

As the hardest-hit country in terms of number of infections, the US is in a similar situation to what China experienced during the Sars epidemic, with many Chinese reconsidering their trans-Pacific travel plans.

Zhang Hui, managing partner of a law firm in the southwestern city of Kunming, said that H1N1 concerns may affect her business travel plans this year.

"We've been planning a delegation to four states in the US for around October," Ms Zhang said, "but with the H1N1 situation there, were not sure at this point if we'll end up going."

China's own inbound tourism market has also felt the effects of H1N1 and the global economic slowdown. According to projections by the China National Tourism Administration, China will receive 132 million inbound tourists this year, growth of only 1.5% for a market that had been averaging roughly 10% growth annually since 2003.

There is no clear relation between H1N1 and the low numbers of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand in recent months. Rather, it seems that political and economic considerations are having a bigger impact on Chinese travellers' decisions whether to visit the kingdom.

According to the Association of Thai Travel Agents, Chinese visitors to Thailand in the first quarter of 2009 were down 30% year-on-year.

Decreasing spending power among China's white collar workers and political unrest in Thailand are major factors behind the dropoff in Chinese visitors to Thailand, Cotri's Dr Arlt said.

In June of this year, Thailand extended its previous three-month free-visa policy to foreign tourists. The extension, good until the end of this year, was made with attracting more Chinese tourists in mind. Under normal conditions, Thai visas for Chinese travellers cost 230 yuan (1,144 baht).

Also in June, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing with an agenda focused on mitigating the effects of the global economic downturn. Tourism, along with trade and investment, was one of the main topics of the talks, after which China withdrew its official warning to its citizens against travelling to Thailand.

According to Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) statistics, 820,000 Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2008, a 10.3% drop from the previous year. This year the TAT will spend 15 million baht to promote the country to the Chinese market.

The TAT, which estimates China will soon become Thailand's biggest source of tourists, is aiming to attract one million mainland tourists this year, but images of political instability are still fresh in Chinese minds.

Just down the street from a TAT billboard with the tagline "Travel at Ease" in Chinese, Kunming resident Li Guoyun said political instability was the main reason he was not going to visit Thailand anytime soon.

Visitors to the country say that the swine flu was the least of their concern but instead it's that for the last year or two, every time Thailand is mentioned on the television or radio, it's because of some kind of chaos.

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