Tourism in crisis

news.com.au By Malcolm Cole April 08, 2003

AUSTRALIA'S international tourism industry has been declared in crisis.

The twin impact of the Iraq war and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus is expected to severely damage already ailing tourist businesses.

Federal Tourism Minister Joe Hockey has activated a national tourism crisis response plan in an effort to counteract any SARS-related downturn in inbound visitor numbers.

The Australian Tourist Commission is slashing promotions in markets where people are shunning holiday travel as a result of SARS, and is refocusing its efforts in positive areas.

Mr Hockey said federal and state officials were holding daily crisis meetings to provide "an early warning" of weakening tourism markets and to advise on how to redirect marketing efforts.

"If we see an area deteriorating then we're able to move resources into another area to enable it to grow," Mr Hockey said. "There's some markets at the moment where you could give them $1000 and they wouldn't get on a plane."

But other areas, such as New Zealand and Japan, were still considered positive markets for Australia, and would be given an increase in promotions efforts.

"The Government is particularly concerned about small tourism businesses in areas with a high exposure to international markets such as Cairns, the Gold Coast, the Northern Territory and parts of Western Australia," Mr Hockey said.

He said promotions in NZ would be boosted with an extra $500,000 to be spent on campaigns in coming days.

Authorities would also attempt to spread the message that extra protections against SARS have been put in place at airports and that no cases had so far been detected in Australia.

Mr Hockey is in the final stages of formulating a 10-year strategic plan for tourism, which is expected to be funded with leftover money from the Ansett levy.

The head of Sydney Airport, Max Moore-Wilton, has added his voice to calls for any additional Ansett funding to be used on increasing airport security.

Mr Moore-Wilton, the former secretary of the Prime Minister's Department, said the cost of implementing X-ray scanning for all checked baggage at major airports would cost $160 million – double the Government's estimate.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has cut some of its Melbourne to Hong Kong flights.

Airline spokesman David Bell said the flights had been reduced from 11 to seven a week because of the SARS outbreak.

"All we know is passenger numbers have dropped quite dramatically on the route," Mr Bell said.

"Certainly SARS is having a major impact but it is also possible there is some impact from the war on Iraq. It is difficult to know exactly which is which."

Last week, Singapore Airlines cut 60 services because of fears over SARS and the war. Lost services include seven flights from Perth to Singapore. Last month the airline announced another 65 cuts, representing a total loss of 13.6 per cent of its services.

Qantas also reduced planned international flying by up to 20 per cent between April 1 and mid-July in response to the war and SARS.