BANGKOK (ILO News) – The downturn in the travel and tourism industry in Asia and the Pacific is expected to reduce direct employment in the sector by 7.4 per cent in 2003, representing a loss of some 3 million jobs in the region.

An new report¹ by the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Sectoral Activities Department, Hotels and Tourism Branch (HOTOUR), to be presented to delegates at a Tripartite Regional Meeting starting Monday, points out that Asia and the Pacific was more specifically affected by the Bali bombing in 2002 and the SARS outbreak earlier this year than by the general worldwide slump in tourism that began in September 2001.

The onset of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and other adverse factors hit the tourism industry badly in the second quarter of 2003, but in spite of a strong rebound in the third quarter, the balance for the year will remain depressed.

While adverse effects on tourism worldwide since 2001 had a limited impact on Asia and the Pacific, which continued to grow by a reasonable 3.1 per cent in 2000 and 2.3 per cent in 2001, these increases were not sufficient to prevent direct employment in the industry from falling by 2.5 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively, in each of these years.

"Employment in the industry had been decreasing throughout the late 1990s, albeit at a slower pace. However, since the onset of the global tourism crisis, the industry in the region has lost about 12.2 per cent of the jobs it had in 2000," said Dirk Belau, an ILO’s expert on tourism employment. "Many workers will be trying to cope with reduced working hours and a drop in income."

The report also notes that the impact of the crisis on employment in tourism is not as direct as the impact on tourism income, adding that employment is normally reduced after a certain time lag and suffers disproportionately more the longer a crisis lasts. It also reveals that since 2001 the growth in income from international tourism has been lower than the growth in arrivals, signifying a drop in spending.

In Asia and the Pacific, this trend can be explained by a strong increase in intra-regional tourism replacing long-haul arrivals. Domestic tourism has been gaining the attention of policy bodies in the region, the report says, pointing out that in Australia, for example, tourism from abroad accounts for a portion of only 25 per cent of tourism demand, which has been decreasing for several years. Likewise, it is clear that after the Bali bombing and the virtual collapse of the market for foreign tourists, domestic and intra-regional tourists took the opportunity of benefitting from special packages offered by hotels in a bid to reduce their losses.

An important feature of tourism development in Asia and the Pacific is the diversity between countries in terms of performance over recent years, particularly with regard to exposure to different adverse factors, such as natural disasters, political unrest or terrorist activity. It shows that developments in different countries can hardly be explained by a single common rule. Additionally, the report also highlights the importance of China and India when examining trends in tourism. A quarter of foreign income from tourism in Asia and the Pacific is received by China alone, while China and India each account for a third of all employment in the tourism sector in the region.

Delegates from government, employer and worker groups representing 18 countries² in the region will gather in Bangkok on 15-17 September at the Amari Watergate, Pratunam, to discuss the current situation and consider possible remedies.

¹Tourism Employment in the Asia-Pacific Region