Travel trade hurt by H1N1

Borneo Bulletin, 18 July 2009

By Azlan Othman


The ongoing global pandemic of Influenza A (H1N1) has had an adverse effect on local tourism too. Local travel agencies faced a fall in inbound and outbound tourists recording a dip of up to 20 per cent.

Yet travel agencies still lure local travellers to go on holiday abroad with packages offered but with one advice. That is to take precautionary measures against the H1N1.

This was revealed by Mr Foo of the Century Travel Centre who is also the Secretary of the Brunei Association of Travel Agencies.
"Business has already been affected since the flu was first detected in Mexico and spread worldwide. There are not many inbound bookings made for the festive celebrations," he said.

Meanwhile Ms Jennifer from the Continental Tours said the H1N1 definitely affected the outbound and inbound travels. The walk-in customers are lesser nowadays. Locals will travel if they really need to like attending their children's graduation overseas or to undergo medical treatment in places like Singapore, but hardly on for recreation.

"We used to have bigger groups from China and South Korea coming to Brunei for the festive celebration in the past years. But not this year though we still have tours to sell," she added.

A sales staff at Pan Bright Travel Service said many cancellations have been made for tickets issued for regional and international travel especially government personnel attending meetings. Up to 80 per cent cancellations have been reported. But there were those who still travel west, mainly to UK, which is currently having summer sales.

During the last school holiday in June, many bookings were made for leisure travels but cancelled due to the H1N1.

It was learnt that a Travel Fair expected to be held in August, was postponed due to H1N1. It would probably be held later on. But due to the H1N1, some travel agents opt not to take part in such fairs foreseeing gloomy days and bumpy road ahead.

The Ministry of Health through its directive urged people to postpone non-essential travel and limit overseas trips for meetings and conferences while the government ministries and departments issued a circular on July 7 on self-imposed quarantine for officers and staff attending meetings and conferences abroad.

Indeed, it was trying times as the World Tourism Organisation had anticipated the world tourist traffic to drop by eight per cent this year. The tourist traffic in Asia and South Pacific is expected to go down by six per cent.