Tsunami waves hit SE Asia tourism

Just when tourism in southeast Asia was beginning to look up after the second Gulf war and the Sars outbreak, the tsunami waves have dealt a major blow.

Close to 1.5 lakh people are feared dead in the region (specially in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand) in the aftermath of the tsunami on December 26, 2004. Several international tourists are among the dead, more so in Thailand.

To make matters worse for the tourism industry in southeast Asia, countries including the US and Australia have issued warning notes to travel to the region.

"We have received around five per cent immediate cancellations after the tsunami tragedy," said Sonia Dutt, marketing manager, South Asia, Malaysia Airlines.

Malaysia faced much less damage to life and property compared with Indonesia, Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka.

"However, if more such incidents occur "" as per forecasts "" it will definitely hit the tourism industry in the region," she added.

"Tourism has been affected to a great extent in Thailand. However, people are still traveling to Bangkok as the tsunami waves affected only the coastal areas. The extent of damage to the tourism industry is yet to be accessed," said Nongnit, assistant director, India, Tourism Authority of Thailand.

According to initial estimates, around 10,000 travellers have cancelled bookings to south Indian destinations. Flights to south east Asian destinations are also having with fewer passengers.

According to industry sources, Singapore and Malaysian airlines suffered the most from the recent tsunami. Both these airlines have seen 60 per cent cancellations in the last one week. Thai Airways and Jet Airways have also reported heavy cancellation of year-end bookings.

"There have been major cancellations amongst all airlines operating in southeast Asia. Air India saw over 25 per cent cancellations in the one week after the tsunami disaster," said D Kishore, manager, Gujarat, Air India.

The immediate impact on bookings for cruises in the region is yet to be ascertained. Officials say the rate of cancellations will grow in the days to come. Already, most Indians have started canceling their bookings.

The Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board had expected over two lakh Indians to arrive in 2005, but, with the tsunami strike, this seems to be a distant dream.

According to Tourism Malaysia, over 1,49,000 Indians visited Malaysia between January and October 2004.