Rebound in tourism will take more time
(HK Edition, WEI LING, China Daily staff)
2003-08-29
Scorching heat in Europe, the Iraq war, and the lagging impact of the SARS epidemic are hindering the recovery of China's international tourism market, experts say. Two months after China was removed from the list of SARS-infected regions, the number of international arrivals is way below level of the same period last year. Sun Gang, deputy director of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), admitted that to reactivate the international market is much more difficult than to rejuvenate the domestic market. According to CNTA statistics, the number of international arrivals was 7.77 million last month, 8.53 per cent down from the same month last year; but the number was 19 per cent up from June. Insiders say most of the tour groups coming to China now are those organized earlier but delayed due to the outbreak of SARS; few new groups have been organized after SARS. The number of visitors from Hong Kong and Macao saw the fastest rebound. Arrivals from Hong Kong saw only a 7-per-cent drop last month while those from Macao actually reported a 1.17 per cent rise in July compared with the same month last year. Experts expect the impact of SARS to last at least into the last quarter of this year. To restore the confidence of overseas visitors, the CNTA initiated a multi-pronged promotion plan last month. Big promotion activities are planned in major overseas markets with advertisements in newspapers and magazines; while travel promotional programmes are scheduled to be broadcast on CNN in North America and Asia. But Sun from the CNTA said such promotion activities will begin to yield fruit only in the first half of next year. Meanwhile, high temperatures in Europe this summer, the continuing hostilities in Iraq and terrorism attacks in some places such as Indonesia have led to many potential tourists choosing to stay at home. Many travel agencies are not optimistic about the prospects of international business in the second half of this year and the first half of next year, says a report in Economic Daily. (HK Edition 08/29/2003 page7)
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