WTO ought to reassess growth projections for 2005 after Asian seaquake

World Tourism Organization’s Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli said this week it’s way too soon to gauge the real impact the recent Asian tsunamis will have on world tourism. “Though we at the WTO will likely have to revise all predictions for 2005,” he warned.

Nonetheless, Mr. Frangielli believes the industry is in a position to make it up to potential travelers. “Beachgoers, for instance, could now go to the Red Sea or the Caribbean. That could offset growth estimates for 2005,” he commented.

”But make no mistakes about it; Asia, once the engine of world tourism, will endure the fallout of the Asian seaquake and that aftermath will somehow make a dent in global travel,” Mr. Frangialli went on to say.

And the impact won’t be even everywhere because some Asian countries hit by the tsunamis, like the Maldives Islands, rely exclusively on tourism, while others like Thailand and Malaysia, have more branched-out economies.

The WTO secretary-general also indicated there are some travel destinations in South East Asia, such as Indonesia’s Bali and Thai’s Bangkok, that fortunately got off scot-free.

“At the end of the day, Asia as a region will come out less punished than during the 2003 SARS outbreak,” Mr. Frangialli concluded.