SARS & Australian Airlines
SARS deals huge blow to tourism
By Jordan Baker
April 23, 2003
THE deadly SARS outbreak has forced Australian Airlines to cut direct services between Asia and the tourist city of Cairns in north Queensland.
The decision is a major blow for the city, which is already suffering a massive dengue fever outbreak and a tourism downturn due to the war in Iraq.
The Qantas subsidiary has been flying direct from Cairns to Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka in Japan, and to Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei for less than six months.
But the Cairns-Taipei route has been suspended from May 7 to June 30, and Cairns-Hong Kong flights have been cut from three to one a week until May 27.
Chief executive Denis Adams said the decision was taken in response to a drop in demand for air travel, particularly throughout Asia.
"As a result (of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) our forward booking has been affected," he said.
The changes were temporary, Mr Adams said.
Tropical Tourism North Queensland spokesman Leigh Sorensen said the tourist market from Hong Kong was about 90 per cent down on last year.
"There's an impact out of Japan, although it's much smaller - we're probably seeing a 25 per cent downturn out from Japan at the moment," he said.
"We're having a downturn to a lesser extent due to a combination of SARS and the war from some of our long-haul markets."
Tourist operators are hoping a strong domestic market will offset some of the overseas losses.
If the SARS scare continued for the next few months, the city would suffer, Mr Sorensen said.
"There'll be a flow-on to other areas - something like 40 to 50 per cent of the economy in this region is affected by tourism," he said.