SARS Wreaks Havoc on Global Tourism

May 21, 2003

SARS has caused more damage to the worldwide airline industry than the war in Iraq and the September 11 attacks combined, according to the Associated Press' report from a tourism meeting in the Philippines. Thomas Andrew Drysdale, regional director for the International Air Transport Association, said, "At no time in the history of aviation have we ever seen declines of the magnitude that we are now seeing in the Asian region." The article adds that the World Travel and Tourism Council predicts that the double-doom factor of SARS and the strained economy will lead to the loss of 6.9 million travel industry jobs, 1.9 million more than predicted earlier by the United Nations.

Posted 05.21.03

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