If the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has once more proved the fragility of the travel and tourism industry, it has also proved alongside the importance of tourism in the economy and that concerted efforts from the industry and tourism boards can pull off a fast recovery, says Anindita Chattopadhyay.

With billions of dollars lost and millions of lives in misery, the lethal disease bulldozed the tourism industry of Asia in three months. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned that 5 million more jobs in the tourism industry are at risk globally, on top of the 6.5 million lost between 2001 and 2002 because of travel alerts. In the last three months international arrivals dropped by 80 per cent in the region. If the uncertainty caused by the Iraq war led to postponing travel and delaying investment plans, the SARS sceptre hammered the death knell by discouraging travelling altogether as an ‘Avoid Asia’ syndrome swept the world. According to WTO, even countries with no local transmission of SARS (India, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Philippines) have suffered as much from the wave of paranoia as tourism dropped by 40 per cent in some countries.

If it wasn’t for the combined effort of all sectors of the travel and tourism industry, SARS would have left an irreparable scar for sure. In Hong Kong, where direct loss to GDP in April is an estimated HK$2 billion, the airlines, hotels, travel agents, tour operators, retailers, caterers and other service providers have come together and are working in partnership with HKTB to bring local people out of the house and lure back the tourists.

While hotels donated more than 10,000 room nights, Cathay gave away 10,000 tickets for inbound promotion. Singapore Tourism Board has planned a S$200 million promotion programme, centering on confidence building, in-market co-op tactical promotions and global campaigns, which include S$60 million seed funding from STB and the balance from industry partners. Result? Travellers, albeit business and short haul, have already started coming back.

A WTO research shows that crises has led to a shift in travel pattern with people making later bookings, many deciding to stay within their own region and a high degree of price sensitivity. Hence, responding to these changes, NTOs and tourism companies are concentrating on boosting domestic and inter-regional travel to revitalise Asian tourism. In May and June, Singapore ran an S$2 million initiative, called ‘Step Out! Singapore’, aimed at local tourists as vibrancy in local scene is seen as a pre-condition for return of leisure travellers. Hong Kong launched "We Love Hong Kong" with the same objective. The affected countries, in their desperation to lure short-haul tourists are offering attractive packages in the line of buy one get one free, free air tickets and value adds like free admission at tourist attractions. Familiarisation trips are being organised for media and travel trade to witness the situation first-hand.

However, most significantly, SARS, has acted as a boon in disguise in catapulting tourism from a ‘nice-to-have industry’ to a ‘need-to-have industry’ as GDPs dropped alarmingly. In the words of Richard Gordon, chairman PATA and secretary of tourism, Philippines, "The one benefit that has emerged from SARS is a growing realisation of regional governments about the importance of tourism to their respective economies. While every government talks about tourism as an economic driving force, the best demonstration of its power was when it ceased during the darkest weeks at the peak of SARS crisis."

Yes, the governments have sat bolt upright and initiated damage control measures. In Beijing, the government has decided to waive taxes and administrative fees temporarily and offer soft loans worth 6 billion yuan to tourism industry players to help them devise schemes to lure back tourists. The Hong Kong government has allocated USD 1 billion to provide support to various affected sectors, out of which 417 million has been set aside for tourism promotion, while the Thai government has pumped in 500 million Baht for the tourism recovery campaign.

Policy makers have learnt the hard way, the necessity for pre-crisis planning, the need for satellite accounting and the importance of regional cooperation to combat crisis.

Although individual countries throughout Asia are focusing on tourism promotion drives post-SARS, experts believe regional cooperation holds the key to pull the industry out of the current slump. Taking the cue, Hong Kong government has tied up with Singapore and Thailand to jointly promote respective tourist attractions and rebuild its image under the banner ‘Together in Asia’ for the UK market and ‘Asia Now’ for USA. PATA has launched a three-month long global consumer communications campaign called ‘Project Phoenix’ to boost tourism in the Asia Pacific region. The campaign is being funded by NTOs, corporate and industry members. According to Peter de Jong, PATA president and CEO, this reputation management initiative is a fully integrated approach to recovery by working with global media to stimulate consumer interest in Pacific Asia travel. As part of media cooperation, CNN, Time and Fortune announced that a $1 million global TV and print campaign would be launched in partnership with PATA.

Most importantly, authorities have realised that crisis management is an issue that cannot be shoved to the backburner any more as tourism faces a serious challenge. That knowledge and leadership skills to deal with a crisis should become a permanent component of tourism management. That combating crisis needs a coordinated strategy for all sectors of tourism and integrated relationship between nations, and public and private sectors.

Lim Neo Chian, chief executive, Singapore Tourism Board, in her crisis resistant plan highlighted the points. "A country needs preparation at two levels. At country level, develop contingency plans and crisis organisations, set up systems and processes for speedy and effective response, train core personnel and forge closer ties between industry and NTO through constant communication. At the regional level, governments must strengthen regional cooperation framework, build infrastructure for timely exchange, and share knowledge and experiences," she said.

The WTO Crisis Guidelines for the Tourism Sector are also outlined on similar lines. It emphasises three points:

Firstly, pre-crisis planning to remain prepared by working closely with the media, police and other security agencies, by training people on how to prepare, act, react and rebuild the image of the destination during a crisis, and having sufficient equipment in place to handle high speed communication.

Secondly, honest and transparent communication to create credibility.

Lastly, cooperation between public and private sector, and partners involved in security.

Further, Asian countries have at last recognised the need for Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) system - an efficient instrument to better appreciate the importance of tourism in the national economy. "It is a methodology based on the investigation and specification of lateral accounting to measure the contribution of tourism to GDP. We are now promoting this instrument. Since many Asian countries are yet to adopt it, we recently organised a special seminar on the TSA in Manila to provide assistance to our Asian members," said Frangialli.

With the SARS epidemic now history and the industry limping back to normalcy, travel experts are busy doing some stock taking. WTO is confident that tourism growth in the region will not collapse. "The need to travel whether for business or leisure is too deeply ingrained in our societies to be easily effaced. For example, consumer confidence was demonstrated following Gulf war in 1991 with a spectacular 8.3 per cent jump in 1992," said Frangialli. However, others like Professor Wu Bihu, director of the Peking University Tourism Centre, are not so optimistic. In their opinion, since there is no vaccine to prevent SARS and WHO predicts a 5% chance of its coming back, it is natural for tourists from the west to be more cautious. So, it will be some time till long haul travel becomes normal.

One thing is for certain. While the memory of SARS remains fresh, Asian nations can create a win-win situation by enhancing cooperation and making travel within the region hassle free by easing visa regulations. While tourism will prosper, countries will be in a stronger position to face crisis situations.