A major Asia Pacific travel conference begins on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Monday to discuss key issues in an industry hit by terror acts, the war in Iraq and now a mysterious virus spread by travellers.The decision to go ahead with the meeting, opened by Indonesia’s President Megawati Sukarnoputri, followed speculation it might be postponed as fears over the outbreak of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) discouraged travel in Asia. The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conference, with business and government delegates from 42 countries, is taking place in Bali. There is also concern that the Iraq war could have anti-western fallout in Indonesia and other Asian countries with large Muslim populations.Despite the gloomy environment, officials attending the meeting sounded cautiously optimistic that the crucial industry, which accounts for a significant part of national economic output in such countries as Hong Kong and Thailand, would start to recover within the next six months. “People have now cancelled plans,” PATA president and CEO Peter de Jong told Reuters. “To get those people back they want to wait when the next vacation comes up or when their budget is available again, so it would be between three to six months for the leisure travellers to come back.” He said the event was drawing more than 900 participants. In the run-up to the meeting there had been concern that SARS and other worries could slash attendance by several hundred.Going ahead with the meeting in Indonesia, where no SARS case has yet been confirmed but a probable case has been reported, should signal that the industry will not be intimidated by terrorism or SARS fears, officials say.“It repositions the destination, it tells us we have confidence in this destination, we are not intimidated to be here,” Jong said. (Reuters )
