SARS now hits tourism reeling from war, terrorism
The bad news continues for the large travel industry according to this Wall Street Journal story (subscription required):
"We've suffered nine plagues, with SARS being the ninth," says Barry Sternlicht, chief executive of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., a White Plains, N.Y., company that has the Sheraton and Westin brands. Starwood saw Asia as the strongest piece of its global lodging business -- until SARS. "We were making money in places like Kuala Lumpur for the first time in years," Mr. Sternlicht says. Last week, SARS pushed the occupancy rate at Hong Kong's Sheraton Kowloon...down to just 14% -- "and that was only because people couldn't go home," Mr. Sternlicht says.
...The slowdown is spotlighting just how important tourism has become to the global economy. The World Tourism Organization, a United Nations affiliate based in Madrid, counted 715 million trips to another country last year, up more than 50% from 1990 and up more than 150% from 1980. Foreign visitors spent $470 billion in 2001 on travel, hotels, meals and attractions in other countries. That amounts to about 10% of all international trade and 5% of total global economic output, the World Tourism Organization says.