FED: Tourism sector braced for flu-related downturn

AAP General News (Australia)
04-28-2009
FED: Tourism sector braced for flu-related downturn

By Susanna Dunkerley

DARWIN, April 28 AAP - Australia's tourism industry is braced for a major downturn
in the wake of the international swine flu outbreak.

The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) says operators expect travellers to postpone
trips until it's clear the virus is under control.

"There's been no impact, or very little impact yet, we have not seen any cancellations
due to the swine flu," ATEC managing director Matt Hingerty said on Tuesday.

But he said past flu outbreaks, such as bird flu and SARS, led to sharp falls in the
number of tourists heading to Australia.

He noted that in the past, the industry had recovered strongly.

"Travel is deferred, rather than cancelled, so the key is to keep marketing Australia
as an attractive destination through the down times," he said.

"We need to stay calm, and promote the fact that we have strong responses in place
to deal with health scares in Australia."

He said the most immediate threat to the tourism industry was the global financial crisis.

"We are being impacted by the global financial crisis, that's the big picture."

But the financial crisis had also ensured the industry was well prepared to deal with
the fallout from swine flu.

"With the cheap airfares and discount holidays you could argue that the industry has
never been better prepared for this," he said.

ATEC will hold its annual conference in Darwin from April 29-30.

So far there are no confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia, but almost 50 people
with some symptoms have been tested. Many have already been cleared.

Swine flu has been cited as the probable cause of 152 deaths in Mexico.

Swine flu cases have also been confirmed in the United States, Britain, Canada and
Spain, with suspected cases in 11 other countries including Australia.

AAP sld/kms/tnf

KEYWORD: FLU ATEC

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