Some Japanese cancel trips to flu-hit Vietnam
HANOI- Nervous Japanese tourists are cancelling visits to Vietnam where bird flu has killed at least six people, a travel agent said on Saturday.
Up to 1,000 Japanese people have called off trips booked with Apex Vietnam Co in the past two weeks, said a tour operator at the Ho Chi Minh City-based company, which specialises in bringing in tourists from Japan.
"Between 800 and 1,000 tourists...have cancelled their trips because of the bird flu," the travel agent said.
The company brings in up to 8,000 tourists every month, most of them from Japan, she said.
About 200 people from various countries, most of them from Japan, have cancelled their holidays booked with other travel agents in the southern city, state media reported.
Japan provides the third largest group of tourists to Vietnam after China and the United States, and the figures had been rising after Vietnam waived entry visas for Japanese tourists.
But government figures showed 25,600 Japanese had visited Vietnam in January, a 10 percent drop on the same period last year.
The virulent H5N1 bird flu virus, which has been found in 10 Asian countries, including Japan, and has also killed two people in Thailand. All the victims caught the disease from contact with infected birds, according to the World Health Organisation.
Reuters - January 31, 2004.
|