The number of travellers flying to SARS-infected countries has
plunged by more than half, according to Asian tourism
officials.
About 65 per cent fewer people are going to Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Singapore and China.
Taiwan
15 percent drop in the total number of inbound and outbound
flights.
More flights to Japan and Europe, which are relatively free of
the killer disease.
Travel agents put the rise at 30 per cent.
Hong Kong
Flight cancellations hit a peak on Thursday, the day after the
World Health Organisation (WHO) advised against travel to Hongkong
and Guangdong.
98 flights were stopped on Thursday, about 21 per cent of the
day's scheduled flights, according to the airport authority.
Friday, 90 flights were cancelled.
With fallout from the Iraq war as well, the authority expects
the number of flights this month to shrink by 14 per cent.
On average, about 580 flights land daily in Hongkong. The
chairman of the travel agents' association, Michael Woo, estimated
that the number of tourists will halve in the next two weeks. Last
year, Hongkong received an average of a million tourists every
month.
Thailand
AT least 20 flights were cut this week, with more
expected.
Thai Airways said bookings into Thailand since March 1 have
fallen 10 per cent.
Tourists arrivals fell 5 per cent last month and are expected
to drop further this month.
Some European airlines said that there was a 25 per cent drop
in the number of passengers.
Malaysia
Will suspend two of its daily flights to Singapore between
Monday and May 28, and dropped one of its daily flights to Hongkong
from Friday until April 30.
Daily traffic through Kuala Lumpur International Airport has
fallen at least 3 per cent since the outbreak of the disease.
All passengers now entering from SARS-affected areas such as
China, Hongkong, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada and Vietnam must declare
their health status, and flights from these places will land in a
specially designated area.
Indonesia
Flights from SARS-infected countries are flying in daily
half-empty.
Normally, at least 900 passengers from Singapore, Hongkong,
China and Vietnam would arrive in Jakarta daily, and another 1,000
would fly into Bali, said Garuda chief Indra Setiawan.
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