Kiwis Support Asia By Continuing To Travel
The devastating Tsunami has done little to deter interest in people travelling there, said a leading travel retailer.
Flight Centre managing director Graeme Moore said agents were still fielding just as many enquiries if not more, for
travel to Asia, including those regions affected.
“A lot of people understand how important tourism is for many regions in Asia, so they want to continue travelling there
because they feel it is a way of contributing to their recovery,” he said.
“We’ve also been surprised at the number of clients who had not planned on travelling there and now want to go to help
with the clean-up.”
Mr Moore said a campaign by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) to get tourists back in the region had had a
positive impact, and highlighted the need for tourist’s support even more.
“The majority of hotels in the tourist areas weren’t actually damaged, but they will suffer in the long term if people
avoid the area,” he said.
“Increasing publicity on the importance of tourism to the recovery effort are beginning to have an effect.”
“There certainly hasn’t been the drop off in enquiries we would have expected, and Asia, including Bangkok, remains a
popular option as a stopover enroute to Europe.”