"Asia's airports still suffering from SARS"

Wednesday, June 18 , 2003

Asia's airports still suffering from SARS


Singapore - (AFP) - The buzz is not yet back at Asia's airports as the
fallout from the SARS crisis continues to have a deep impact on passenger
numbers, with queues at the duty free shops still depressingly short.

Retailers at Singapore's gleaming Changi Airport said the place looked more
like an empty hangar than a bustling passenger hub during the depths of the
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak.

In a story echoed around the vacant halls of airports around the region,
businesses slumped drastically at Changi as visitor numbers to Singapore
fell by up to 73 percent.

"Business was very bad. The airport was very quiet and every retailer was
affected," Katherine Au, a supervisor at one of the major cosmetics outlet
at Changi said.

Tourist figures to the region have only showed marginal improvements in
recent weeks as the SARS crisis eased, and travel industry experts see a
long haul ahead before passenger numbers return to pre-SARS levels.

"I don't think we will see a buzz anytime soon (at the airports) but there
will be an incremental increase," said Ken Scott, managing director for
communications at the Bangkok-based Pacific Asia Travel Association.

"I think Asia has to go through a credibility period before we can get into
a recovery period. By credibility period I mean a period of time whereby
SARS is seen to be diminishing and it is happening right now."

In Thailand, traffic at Bangkok International Airport has gradually improved
but authorities do not expect any major advances soon.

"The situation has improved a little. I think by the end of this month the
fear of SARS could subside but the travel industry will take longer to pick
up," the airport's deputy manager, Chaiwat Mahithiphark, said.

Chaiwat said the impact from SARS was far worse than the September 11, 2001,
terror attacks on the United States or the Ocotober 2002 bombing on the
Indonesian resort island of Bali.

"The repercussions from SARS have been more severe than those incidents in
terms of both passengers and flights," he said.

Even Japan has experienced a drop in passenger traffic despite having
escaped the SARS epidemic. "We have not seen any sign of recovery at this
moment," a Narita airport official said.

"The impact of the September 11 terrorist attacks is much smaller that that
of SARS."

A spokesman for duty free shops at Narita airport said sales dropped 30
percent in April and May. "We are trying to cope with the difficulties by
cutting costs, but that does not help much," the spokesman said.

In Taipei, latest figures showed passenger arrivals plummeted 80 percent at
the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport from a year ago.

The airport's chief of the management services section, Lin Chun-chih, said
the numbers were expected to stay at current levels "at least until Taiwan
lifts the travel restrictions on passengers coming from other SARS-affected
areas".

Vietnam has reduced service charges at all airports by 10 percent to
stimulate air traffic and bring tourists back to the country in the wake of
the SARS crisis.

"The situation is certainly worse than the period after the September 11,
2001 terror attacks and Bali bomb blast," said Vietnam Airlines spokesman
Nguyen Chan.

International arrivals to Vietnam in the first five months of 2003 fell 21
percent from a year ago, authorities said.

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