War and disease wreaking havoc on Asia's tourism sector

Fallout from the U.S.-led war in Iraq and health fears wrought by a killer outbreak of atypical pneumonia are having a devastating impact on Asia's money-spinning travel industry, analysts said.

Tourists are staying away in droves, hotel bookings and airline reservations are plummeting and fewer people are showing up on the sidelines of international sporting events and at trade exhibitions.

Key regional airline stocks have nosedived on weaker earnings prospects as capacities are reduced because fewer travelers wish to fly. Other flights are being re-routed to avoid the conflict area.

Rock icons the Rolling Stones and guitarist Carlos Santana join techno-pop superstar Moby in canceling long-awaited concerts in Asia, which is further harming the region's image.

"It sounds like a bad story from a novel called War and Health," said Song Seng Wun, a regional economist at G.K. Goh brokerage in Singapore.

The initial euphoria in global markets after U.S. and British forces launched an attack on Iraq has yielded to caution as indications of a longer and riskier war emerge.

In a second blow, the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), believed to have originated in southern China, has spread rapidly to Hong Kong, Singapore and Hanoi, with some cases appearing as far North America and Europe.

With a worldwide death toll of 56 people, at least 1,400 infections and no known cure, the illness is scaring travelers away from East Asia, where tourism is a major foreign exchange earner.

"This is a growing problem and the number of cases is going up rather than being contained. There will be a double whammy in the second quarter," Song told AFP.

John Koldowski, managing director at the Pacific Asia Travel Association, said after the 1991 Gulf War, it took up to two years for the travel industry to recover.

The travel industry is also watching the "kick-on effect" of war, he said, noting widespread and angry anti-American rallies and heightened fears of terrorist attacks worldwide

One analyst compared the current turmoil to the "annus horribilis" in 1997 when a regional currency crisis and hazy skies from forest fires in Indonesia dealt a one-two punch to East Asian economies.

Azrul Azwar, an economist with MIDF Sisma Securities in Malaysia, said the SARS outbreak could be "even deadlier than the war in Iraq" as the conflict is confined to a specific area, while the rapidly spreading virus is a global threat.

Hong Kong, where 12 people have died of the disease and another 470 are infected, has seen the rug pulled out from under some of its highly-lucrative tourism draws, including several high-profile concerts. Tour groups have canceled trips to the former British territory and new bookings have plunged more than 80 percent.

Jun Ma, senior economist at Deutsche Bank, said the impact of SARS could cut Hong Kong's gross domestic product by 0.4 percentage points this year. Retail sales and hotel revenues could fall two percent and five percent, respectively.

Suparek Soorangura, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said tourist arrivals to Thailand dropped 15 percent in March.

Singapore saw incoming travel from March 1-23 falling nearly nine percent on the year.

"Businessmen are teleconferencing rather than travelling, while hotel occupancies and forward bookings have dropped sharply," said Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

In Taiwan, the SARS scare has prompted cancellations of at least 500 group tours, mainly to China, said Reget Hsu, secretary general of the Travel Agents Association of Taiwan.

Arrivals to China, where more than 30 people have died from the mystery pneumonia, have also fallen, a spokesman for Kang Hui International Travel Service said — especially from Taiwan and Japan.

The Beijing leg of the International Rugby Board's Sevens Series was also canceled.

"If this lasts for a long time, it will have serious affect on international tourists coming to China," the spokesman said.

Shares last week in Asia's largest carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) dropped 5.6 percent and All Nippon Airways stocks fell 5.8 percent to lead similar declines by Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.

JAL spokeswoman Yoshie Otaka said the airline expects passenger volume in March to fall between five to 10 percent on the year, with a further decline in April

Hotels in Europe face stiff competition from dedicated conference venues

TravelDailyNews.com  - Hotels which offer conference facilities and products are facing stiff competition from the growing number of  dedicated residential conference venues in the UK and Europe, according to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers Hospitality and Leisure Group (PWC). The report identified 22 specialist conference product operators, with 55 centres, 1,506 conference rooms and almost 6,000 residential rooms across the UK and Europe.

Although there are clearly many more hotels and universities or colleges offering residential conference facilities, the relatively new sector of specialised conference centres is growing much faster, increasing by 45 per cent in the UK in the five years up to 2002. While the pace of growth will slow in the next five years, PWC anticipates a 20 per cent growth in the number of venues, and considerable expansion among operating groups. Dolce International, for instance, is planning to acquire and operate venues in key gateway cities right across Europe.

(Reuters) - Private equity firm BC Partners Ltd said on Monday it was still in the hunt for Six Continents' pubs and restaurants business, despite having a 2.8 billion pound ($4.4 billion) bid snubbed earlier this month.

Six Continents, which owns InterContinental and Holiday Inn hotels, All Bar One pubs and Harvester restaurants, is splitting itself in two, following criticism it lacked focus and had neglected shareholders.

But few analysts think the two resulting companies -- InterContinental Hotels Group Plc (IHG) and Mitchells & Butlers Plc (M&B) for the pubs and restaurants -- will remain independent for long.

Six Continents has already fought off a hostile bid for the whole group from entrepreneur Hugh Osmond, and BC Partners confirmed on Monday that it was behind an approach for M&B which Six Continents rejected last Thursday as too low.

"BCP remains interested in making an offer for M&B and looks forward to participating in the transparent and orderly process Six Continents intends to establish," said BC Partners.

BC Partners wants M&B to hold an auction process with access to company data and believes the pubs group will attract higher bids ahead of a planned refinancing to be conducted after its separate London listing on April 15, industry sources said.

Six Continents, which is also returning 700 million pounds to shareholders as part of its demerger plans, insists both of its businesses have a strong future and that it will not sell off valuable assets at the bottom of the economic cycle.

But following criticism it was not receptive to potential bidders during the battle with Hugh Osmond, the firm set up a committee of three under senior non-executive director Roger Carr specifically to assess any approaches.

Analysts expect the committee to be busy, with the Laurel Pub Company, owned by Deutsche Bank AG's DBKGn.DE Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, expressing interest, while private equity group CVC and former Nomura financier Guy Hands are believed to have looked at M&B, industry sources said.

U.S. private equity firms Blackstone and Texas Pacific with Marriott MAR.N , Sheraton group Starwood HOT.N and Hilton Group Plc HG.L are believed to be circling the hotels. Both IHG and M&B are expected to start trading as separate companies on April 15.

Six Continents shares ended down 0.7 percent at 602-1/2p.

Australian Hotel Industry Shows Signs Of Pick-up  

Australian Financial Review  -  The hotel industry last year managed to ride out the after-shocks of the collapse of Ansett and attacks on America to record positive growth for 2002.

According to hotel industry expert Dean Dransfield, the principal of DA Dransfield and Co, anecdotal evidence suggests the hotel sector will improve further this year.

Mr Dransfield said room yields would probably rise between 4 and 6 per cent this year and he expects growth to continue into 2004.

"[2003 increases are] still going to be in the range of 4 per cent to 6 per cent which we anticipate would be possible based on what we have seen in 2002," Mr Dransfield said.

"The key determinant is related to supply, which is expected to be limited even though there is a softness in demand caused by reduced international volumes.

"2004 might even be better than that because there hasn't been much additional supply nationwide and we expect demand numbers will have improved."

While the forecasts are still a far cry from their 1996 peak, Mr Dransfield said investors who want to make money out of the hotel industry need to invest when room yields are on their way up not when they have already peaked.

Mr Dransfield, who spoke to The Australian Financial Review after the launch of an industry-led study promoting government reforms to make the hotel sector an attractive option for institutional investors, said he did not believe the reforms needed to come from the government.

The study, titled New Investment Frontiers, aims to get the attention of fund managers by recommending industry and government-led reforms, including the reduction or removal of property taxes and stamp duty and the removal of distortions in the application of GST to tourism.

But Mr Dransfield said institutional investors often waited until hotels had shown a few years of stable income, in the hope the properties had lost their potential risk, before investing.

But that can indicate there has been a lack of supply, he said.

"It is a difficult equation to remedy," Mr Dransfield said.

"I am not one of the people who think the government can or would fix this.

"The industry has failed to educate institutional investors because institutional investors are not terribly interested.

"They say '[investing in hotels] is harder than investing in commercial property, so I am going to invest less money in hotels, so why should I invest a disproportionate amount in [understanding] this market'."

But as D.A. Dransfield's figures show, the outlook for hotels is mildly upbeat .

Hotel accommodation figures for the December 2002 quarter were recently released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to show a 1.1 per cent weighted room yield increase for the Australian market in 2002 in line with D.A. Dransfield's forecast of 0.5 per cent increase for the calendar 12 months to December 2002.

Based on the ABS data, D.A. Dransfield has updated its 2004 outlook for Australian cities. It forecasts that yields will increase most substantially in Sydney, the Gold Coast and Cairns.

Adelaide and Melbourne would have minimal change to room yields.

KEY POINTS

* Room yields are expected to rise between 4 and 6 per cent this year.

* The hotel industry has launched an initiative aimed at promoting the sector as an attractive investment. However, it is struggling to convince institutional investors of its benefits

Regional German hotel performance now tracked

In January 2003 five new regions (Bundeslaender) were added to the German edition of the HotelBenchmark Survey reflecting the increase in regional hotel participation. New regions added to the survey include Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bayern. 

This snapshot reports on how hotels in Germany's primary cities performed against their regional counterparts in 2002.  To ensure comparability, primary city data has been excluded from the regional performance figures. 

Of the five new regions tracked, Nordrhein-Westfalen reported the lowest revenue per available room (revPAR) of the five regions (EUR37) and was outperformed by Essen, Koln and Dusseldorf, which reported revPAR of EUR45, EUR52 and EUR58 respectively.  Only Dortmund under-performed the region, achieving revPAR of EUR31 and therefore coming last by comparison to the other primary cities in Nordrhein-Westfalen.  Nordrhein-Westfalen and the primary cities in the region experienced similar changes in occupancy throughout the year (ranging from 45 percent to 67.4 percent).  However, average room rates for the region varied between EUR60 and EUR74 during the year, compared to a difference of EUR81 between the highest and lowest monthly average room rate in Dusseldorf.     

Niedersachsen reported the second lowest revPAR in 2002 of  EUR38 - some EUR11 lower than the best performer.  However, despite this, the difference in revPAR performance of regional Niedersachsen and Hannover itself was marginal, with regional performance only EUR2 lower.  For six months of 2002 the region actually achieved higher revPAR than Hannover, with the city only outperforming the region substantially during three months of the year due to trade fair activity (March - CeBIT, April - Hannover Messe and September - IAA Nutzfahrzeuge).   Such activity resulted in massive fluctuations in average room rates during 2002 - with these ranging from EUR55 to EUR174 whereas average rates only ranged from EUR60 to EUR102 in Niedersachsen.

Frankfurt's position as one of the main trade fair cities in Germany is renowned and consequently the difference between the performance of Frankfurt and Hessen is perhaps not surprising.  Overall, Frankfurt's revPAR performance was some EUR22 higher (EUR64) than the region as a whole and unlike Niedersachsen there was not a single month during the year where hotels in Hessen achieved higher revPAR than those in Frankfurt.  Although hotel occupancies in Hessen almost closed the gap on Frankfurt's performance from April to September, they sadly continued to lag behind on average room rate.

Hotel performance in Munich was much stronger than across the region of Bayern in 2002 with revPAR some EUR29 higher at EUR68 - the largest variance between the performance of a primary city and its region.  Unlike the performance of Hessen and Frankfurt, Bayern did not come close to achieving either the occupancy or average room rates experienced by Munich in any month of 2002.

Not only did Baden-Wurttemberg boast the highest revPAR of any of the regions tracked, it was also the only region in Germany where revPAR exceeded that of its primary city.  However, the variance was marginal - regional revPAR was EUR3 higher at EUR49 in 2002 compared to Stuttgart. Baden-Wurttemberg  had a marginally higher occupancy (3.5 percent), although a lower average room rate than Stuttgart.

Whilst these findings may not be that surprising given the business mix and demand levels of hotels in primary cities versus their regional counterparts, regional hotels were not so severely affected by the tough trading conditions in 2002 as hotels in primary locations.  Whilst hotels in German primary markets saw revPAR fall by 7.5 percent compared to 2001, hotels in secondary and tertiary locations only saw revPAR fall by 0.6 percent compared to the prior year.   Interestingly, hotels in secondary and tertiary locations actually managed to increase average room rates during the course of the year, however this was offset by a fall in occupancy.

Notes:

All analysis is in Euros. Primary cities are defined as those with a population over 500,000. Secondary cities include those with a population between 250,000 and 500,000.  Tertiary cities include those with a population under 250,000. 

The HotelBenchmark Survey contains the largest independent source of hotel performance data outside of North America and tracks the performance of over 6,000 hotels and 1.1 million rooms every month. Four regional monthly rate and occupancy reports are produced covering Asia Pacific, Caribbean and Latin America, Europe and the Middle East & Africa. These are supplemented by country reports for Australia, Belgium & The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK and a city survey for London. Annual profitability surveys are run across all regions of the world, whilst in Germany and London monthly profitability surveys are conducted. Our German survey collates data on the performance of some 700 hotels representing 125,000 rooms on a monthly basis making it the most comprehensive and authoritative independently operated survey available.

For further information on the German edition of the HotelBenchmark Survey please contact Konstanze Auernheimer on +44 (0) 20 7546 9285 or kauernheimer@deloitte.co.uk . 

Survey Finds Many Americans Still Traveling, Not Changing Travel Plans

/PR Newswire/  -  The U.S. war with Iraq has created a great deal of uncertainty for those who have travel plans.  A recent survey however finds encouraging news.  When asked whether the war will cause them to change their travel plans, a resounding 76% of respondents said no, they are not changing their plans and are continuing on their trip.  The online survey of 896 people was conducted by Fodor's Travel from March 19-22. 

Interestingly, Americans' sentiments about travel are similar to those prior to the start of military actions.  In a separate Fodor's survey conducted during the week of March 10, before the war began, the question posed was if the fear of war against Iraq made them change their travel plans. The responses were nearly identical to those of the recent survey.  Of the 1,197 respondents in that survey, 76% said they were not going to change their plans and were going to go on their previously scheduled trip. 

In the current survey, women are more likely than men to continue with their travel plans.  The survey found that the 78% of women are not going to change their plans now that the nation is at war, compared to 71% of men.  The remainder of the responses were consistent between genders.  Nine percent of respondents report that they are postponing their trip, while only 7% have decided to cancel their trip altogether. 

"It is understandable for Americans to feel uncertain given the current political situation, but people are still traveling," comments Bonnie Ammer, President of Fodor's Travel Publications.  "We're seeing travelers planning but not confirming their trips until closer to their departure date.  Many of our guides to places like Italy, Ireland, and the Caribbean continue to sell very well which is a positive sign of what's to come.  We are a nation of travelers and I think that people are doing their best to maintain some sort of normalcy."

Of the 896 survey respondents only 9% had no previous travel plans.

SOURCE Fodor's Travel Publications

Flu doesn’t deter German film crew

Despite all the publicity and fear surrounding atypical pneumonia, yesterday a 16-strong contingent from Germany arrived at InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong to shoot footage for a programme called "Davidoff Cooking for Friends".   The programme arranged in association with Wolff Promotions, Davidoff Cigarettes and through the support of  Thomas Cook, also involves a team of celebrities who are visiting Hong Kong aboard the top class cruiseship, MS Deutchland which is currently moored at Ocean Terminal.  

"Last night our General Manager , Mr Gerhard Hecker hosted a welcome dinner for the media and celebrities at Hoi King Heen restaurant.   We are absolutely delighted to welcome this group of German press and ZDF, a major German television station to Hong Kong." said Ms Sharon Garrett, Director of Communications

Commenting about the impact of Atypical Pneumonia on the visit, Ms Garrett said:

"We have been in very close contact with our Six Continents office in Germany as well as the key organizer Mrs Birgitt Wolff of Wolff Promotions.   It is not surprising, that the subject of atypical pneumonia did arise prior to the visit and we are delighted that this group decided to still make the trip to Hong Kong."

Ms Bettina Kornau who is responsible for Davidoff Cigarettes Public Relations added:

"As naming rights sponsor for Davidoff Cooking for Friends it is important for us to create exclusive lifestyle and dining events.   Hong Kong is one of 5 international destinations selected for the series and in part because German consumers have a keen interest in Asian inspired cuisine.   Even with the threat of pneumonia, the inclusion of Hong Kong in the series is crucial to the success of the programme.  We are very pleased to be here."

"Davidoff Cooking for Friends" appears on ZDF Television's daily programme called "Leute Heute" (People Today) which is a source of celebrity gossip.    The "Davidoff Cooking for Friends" segment will feature the visiting celebrities aboard MS Deutchland as well as experiencing Hong Kong and being introduced to the art of Asian cuisine by InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong's executive Chef Jochen Kern.

The destination Hong Kong can expect to receive tremendous coverage following this event with journalists from high profile German print media such as Gala Magazine, Das Neue Blatt (Lifestyle magazine), and daily newspapers including AZ Munich providing a concentration of stories with a lifestyle and dining focus.

In follow-up to the programme, the Hong Kong visit and cooking segment will be included in a new book titled Cooking for Friends will be published by Mrs Birgitt Wolff and launched at the German Book Fair in Frankfurt in October this year.  

Dark clouds of war have a silver lining

New general manager unfazed by gloomy predictions for the hotel industry

But he stressed that at one point in time, the promotions come to an end, like summer sales in a department stores. But if these hotels are to survive in the long run, he believes that they will have to stop giving away goodies and adjust their rates to start thinking in terms of profits.

When reality sets in it will become clear which hotel can survive the competition. JW Marriott, he adds, has no plans to slash room rates to pull in guests because the war in Iraq means fewer travellers will be coming this way. The situation as it stands doesn't warrant a move to that effect.

``I like competition,'' says Caprez ``but only because competition always brings the best out of people. No competition and people get complacent. With lots of competiton, one has to move up service level, become inventive-oriented and have ideas that are more fixable. And the customer benefits.''

For his efforts Caprez received the ``Leadership Excellence Awards'' from Marriott in 1997.

Global players in the hotel business on Wireless, Ploenchit and Sukhumvit include the Hilton, Starwood and Marriott, and they stand out from the rest in the field because they have an extensive network operating over 2,500 hotels worldwide. Marriott's extensive customer base, distribution network and brand name are its strong selling points which should serve the hotel well even if the business is lean.

He quoted Ed Fuller, president and managing director for international lodging for Marriott International, as telling the recently-concluded travel trade fair in Berlin that the group would continue to pursue an aggressive marketing strategy to post growth. At the start of this year the Marriott's combined room capacity stood at 50,000 _ either under construction, awaiting conversion, or approved for development. It hopes to add another 25,000-30,000 by the end of this year, and a matching number next year.

Caprez says conversions were an important source of new rooms, accounting for 21 percent of new additions in 2002, and the pattern is expected to continue over the next few years.

He believes the BTS sky train does influence people's decision in selecting accommodation.

And since the BTS will be extended in due course Caprez's immediate priority is to build a skybridge connecting the hotel to Ploenchit station. The hotel is already connected to Ploenchit Shopping Centre by a bridge. The idea is to build a skybridge from the shopping centre to the train station 80 metres further up. He still has to decide whether the skybridge should go over or under the expressway.

At the end of April the hotel will launch a promotional campaign in tandem with BTS under which it will hand out skytrain passes to guests who spend a certain length of time at the hotel. Caprez also has a vision to see the road leading up to the hotel turned more green.

``The stretch from Rajadamri junction all the way to Ploenchit, Asoke and Sukhumvit can be turned into Orchard Road of Singapore.

However, the hotels on this stretch of the road and the BMA would need to work together to improve the pavements and add more greenery to the surroundings since most tourists stay in and around these areas.

On soft renovations going on this year to give the hotel a fresh look, Caprez reported that one addition to the rooms at JW Marriott include higher speed internet access (560bps). Users will be charged a rate of 600 baht for whole day.

Caprez is also looking into getting the hotel's empty basement, which has an area of about 12,000 sq meters coverted into a F&B-cum-entertainment complex.

JW Marriott will look for partners who have the name and expertise to operate the complex.

He is hopeful that by the last quarter of this year the project will get off the ground.

Asked to evaluate the damage to the hotel industry from the war in Iraq, he says: ``Hotels will be facing a downturn in business, and it has already started. Marriott has clear evidence that booking patterns are changing, and I hear it from all the major hotels as well.

``If the crisis doesn't drag on there is a great chance for the industry to recover, but if not, then the hotel industry could go into a prolonged slump because companies just don't want to take the risk to send their people out of the country.

`` Tourists will not travel because from Europe to Asia, we have to fly by Iraq, and people don't like that idea. The fear really is that if the war prolongs the terrorists will be active again. Being a corporate hotel, I do envision an increase in video conferencing which we also offer.''

What ever the case, Caprez is confident of JW Marriott's strong distribution network and the vast number of hotels it runs will enable it to recover quickly from this crisis.

When business is affected in these circumstances, hotels look to increase their restaurant business and target the local market. He is hoping to focus on the Marriott gold card.

The difference with this dining card is that besides the special discounts and privileges, it creates loyalty. Guests can use it at any of the group's five hotels in Thailand.

They have already garnered a strong membership base of 4,000. So in times of crisis, such a dining or reward card creates a bond. Hotel guests prefer to stay at places where people know and recognise them.

As for the meeting business, Caprez was optimistic, saying this segment of the business should grow. He predicts an increase in teleconferencing business.

Asked what the future held for JW Marriott, the veteran hotel executive says that with the group's business expanding things could only get better.

``Marriott is determined to grow as a company, and grow in the Asia-Pacific too. If the opportunities are ripe, Thailand will witness a growth of this brand of hotels in Thailand,'' he concludes.

Bangkok Post

Indonesia's hotel occupancy rates down to 35%

The Iraq war has begun to take its toll on the Indonesian hotel industry, with occupancy rates shrinking sharply, hotel operators said.

Already suffering from the economic crisis and terrorist-related disruptions, the Indonesian hotel industry has recorded a further decline in occupancy rate to 35 percent, down from 45 percent.

The decline was even faster than the dive caused by the Bali bombing last year, said the chairman of the hotel and restaurant association, Yanti Sukamdani.

Yanti said protests and a boycott call on US products has caused the sharp drop.

(Asia Pulse/Antara)

Gulf War Hits Malindi Hotels

East African Standard  -  Several tourist hotels in Malindi town will close down this month due massive cancellation of bookings.

Hoteliers have attributed this to the ongoing war in Iraq.

Mombasa and Coast Tourist Association (MCTA) Malindi branch chairman, Mr Asgar Dossaji, said that hotels will close down due to lack of guests.

Speaking to the East African Standard on telephone, Dossaji said the war has dealt a debilitating blow to tourism in the North Coast.

"We were expecting a boom in tourism in the lead-up to the Easter holiday but because of the war, hotels will close down due to lack of guests".

He urged hotels in the resort town to diversify by accommodating both foreign and domestic tourists instead of relying solely on foreign tourism markets.

Dossaji advised them to start marketing campaigns on domestic tourism in Nairobi and other towns to enable them have good bookings during Easter.

He said they should offer special packages for domestic tourists to boost bed occupancy and also urged them to focus on conference tourism.

Hanoi Horison wins Best Service Hotel 2002

Swiss-Belhotel International's Hanoi Horison Hotel, a joint venture between Vietnam Global Toserco and Indonesia's Metropolitan Group and managed by Swiss-Belhotel International, was voted BEST SERVICE HOTEL 2002  by the readers of the Vietnam Economic Times readers for the second year in a row.

The Hotel has introduced several "firsts" such as Wireless High Speed Internet Access and an ATM Cash dispenser on the premises and has been able to maintain one of the highest occupancy levels in the city.

"I am very proud of the the Management Team and all the local staff who consistently seem to delight all

our Guests" says Jan Hilhorst, the general manager of the hotel.

The Vietnam Economic Times "The Guide Awards" are organised annually and reward those who excel in Vietnam's Service Industries

Malaysia's Tourism Suffering Due to War and SARS Fears

The war in Iraq and the mysterious pneumonia sweeping Asia and some other parts of the world are expected to deal a double blow to Malaysian tourism, analysts and hotel operators said.

Azrul Azwar, an economist at MIDF Sisma Securities, forecast that tourism arrivals will drop to 12.9 mln this year from 13.3 mln in 2002. "This is a drop from our initial forecast of 13.56 mln tourists for 2003," he said. As the country's second largest foreign exchange earner, the dip in tourism will badly affect the economy, he added. A spokeswoman for the exclusive Pangkor Laut Resort off Perak said the hotel had experienced many cancellations, mainly by European and Japanese visitors who cited war jitters and concerns over the outbreak of the atypical pneumonia known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The occupancy rate has fallen to 35 pct, she said. A spokesman for Berjaya Hotels and Resorts said some 5 to 10 pct of bookings have been cancelled since the launch of the U.S.-led war on Iraq. Several hotels have slashed prices. The five-star Mutiara Beach resort on Penang island is offering deluxe rooms for the equivalent of 76 usd instead of the usual 92 usd. The four-star Holiday Villa situated on a beach on Langkawi island has cut its rates for a standard room from 91 usd to 53 usd, and a deluxe room from 103 usd to only 55 usd.

Rotana Hotels promotes Thomas Gertz

Mr.Thomas H.F Gertz, General Manager of the Gefinor Rotana Hotel has been recently promoted to Area Director of operations for Rotana Hotels, suites & Resorts for Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Rotana is now managing a portfolio of 18 properties with several more under construction among which a property in Damascus which is expected to open by May 2003.

German National of 40 years old, GERTZ joined Movenpick International in Hanover in 1987 after completing his hotel school in Germany.

He held various key positions with Movenpick and in 1991 he moved to Manama as The Food & Beverage Manager of the Regency Intercontinental.

In 1993, he returned to Berlin to take on the responsibility of Director of

Food & Beverage of the Hotel Berlin and the following year he became General Manager of the Kurhaus and Congress Center , Germany.

Prior to joining Rotana hotels, GERTZ had a successful management career with Hilton International where he managed hotels in Istanbul and Prague.

World tourism chief urges Russia to ease entry visa procedures

AFP  -  Russia must ease its visa procedures if it wants to boost tourism, the head of the world's top tourism organisation said Thursday.

"Facilities to travel and simpler (visa) procedures are necessary to develop tourism" in Russia, Francesco Frangialli, secretary general of the World Tourism Organisation, told reporters.

Highlighting the benefits to be gained by easing Russia's tortuous visa requirements, Frangialli cited the case of South Africa which, after last year making visas easier to obtain, saw a 40 percent increase in arrivals on its territory.

Foreign visitors to Russia are required to obtain an invitation or a guarantee that they are being provided for by a tourist agency.

One of the problems preventing Russia from easing visa restrictions is diplomatic, as it often bases its visa procedures on those imposed on its own nationals by other countries, the official said.

Russian tourist agencies in turn complain that visa restrictions for Russians wishing to travel to Europe are a major obstacle, with the result that many vacationers prefer to travel to countries such as Turkey, Cyprus or Tunisia, where procedures for Russians are simpler.

Over 23 million tourists came to Russia in 2002, representing three percent of the world market, according to Deputy Economy and Commerce Minister Vladimir Strzhalkovsky.

"Russia's potential is much higher than that and a lot remains to be done to get better results, regarding infrastructure, accesibility and improving the country's image," he told journalists.

Most people visiting Russia come from neighboring countries, with Poles topping the list at 1.2 million visitors.

They are followed by people from Finland, Lithuania, China and Germany, Strzhalkovsky said.