~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

Year :      [2003]      [2002]      [2001]      [2000]      [1999]      [1998]      [1997]

Illness, war hurting Vietnam tourism

HANOI - The deadly illness gripping Asia the past two months has claimed another victim: Vietnam's tourism industry. With people scared away by the mysterious flulike ailment, hotels are losing bookings, tours are canceling and airlines are flying fewer passengers.

On top of that, war in Iraq is making things worse for an industry that in recent years had been enjoying unprecedented growth -- 13 percent last year alone. In the days immediately after the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, as the mysterious illness has been dubbed, the Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City lost more than 500 bookings as anxious travelers canceled their reservations.

In Hanoi, the Handspan travel agency has lost 20 percent of its bookings this month, while Buffalo Tours has had to cancel 14 tours after about 100 customers called off their trips. Most were worried about the pneumonia-like illness that the World Health Organization says has infected 1,376 people and killed 53 since Feb. 1, mostly in Asia. Four of the deaths have occurred in Vietnam.

``We started receiving e-mails from customers saying they wanted to cancel their tours,'' said Nguyen Phuong Nam, sales manager for Buffalo Tours. ``They were worried about two things: the attack on Iraq and the flu spreading in Hanoi.'' Vietnam's national tourism office, desperate to keep the good times rolling, issued a statement late last week beseeching travelers not to panic. ``Vietnam is still a safe destination for tourists,'' the statement said. ``Visitors to Vietnam will be well taken care of and served with high-quality products and services and safety.''

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta advised people to postpone non-essential travel to Hanoi, Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province until further notice. The World Health Organization issued a global travel advisory intended to heighten awareness of the illness, whose symptoms include high fever, cough, shortness of breath and difficult breathing. In Hanoi, 60 people have been hospitalized and two have died as a result of the illness, which was first recognized after an American businessman traveling to Hanoi from China via Hong Kong fell ill and later died. The Hanoi hospital where he was treated closed down after more than 30 of its staff became afflicted with the illness, an atypical pneumonia whose cause and cure remain under investigation.

Cautious optimism

By the end of the week, the spread of the disease had been slowing in Hanoi, and health officials expressed cautious optimism about the prospect of containing it here. Many travelers are not reassured.

``The illness is in the back of your mind and it takes away from the experience a little,'' said Chris Weldon, 31, a San Franciscan visiting Vietnam with his friend Duncan Carling, another Bay Area resident. ``Our parents are probably worried sick,'' said Carling, who was recently laid off by a Foster City software firm. ``I told my mom we'd probably be safer in Hanoi than we would be in the U.S., but that was before I heard about the flu virus.'' Weldon and Carling knew about the virus before they left but decided to come anyway. As they planned their trip, Carling said, the United States was on the brink of attacking Iraq.

``If Vietnam were a Muslim country, maybe we wouldn't have come,'' Carling said, adding that he bypassed Indonesia and Malaysia because they seemed like potential targets for terrorists. ``I would not have visited a predominantly Muslim country on this trip.'' Tourism in other Asian nations affected by the outbreak also is suffering. Tourism officials in China, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere are reporting travel slowdowns.

Recent boom

But despite the recent one-two punch of illness and war, hoteliers, travel agents and tourism officials are confident that the long-term trajectory of Vietnam's tourism industry will continue sharply upward. The number of tourists discovering Vietnam -- which had been isolated by years of war and economic blockades -- has risen steadily in recent years. Last year, with the economy roaring and business travelers also converging on the country, international arrivals on Vietnam Airlines rose by 20 percent.

Visitors have been lured by a variety of factors: Vietnam is seen as a new, undiscovered destination, it is relatively inexpensive and the number of resort hotels has grown. And, with its predominantly Buddhist population and a communist government, Vietnam seemed a safe alternative to other countries in the region where the terrorist threat posed by Muslim extremists could make even a glorious sun-drenched beach seem ominous.

After Sept. 11 and the terrorist attacks in Bali in October, Vietnam saw a surge in tourism as people sought a less threatening Southeast Asian destination. The country has no known Muslim extremist groups, and the security police in the fast-changing nation keep close watch on the population. Now, fear of flying is scaring away tourists. Thursday, the WHO urged airlines flying out of a handful of cities hit by SARS -- including Hanoi -- to question passengers at check-in desks for signs of sickness and to bar anyone with flulike symptoms from boarding. With airline passengers now donning masks to prevent the spread of SARS or staying away because of war, the industry knows it has some tough times ahead. Still, some executives see a quick recovery.

Immediate reaction

Stephen O'Grady, manager of the Caravelle Hotel, said the travel industry is always subject to fluctuations because of world events. He predicted that Vietnam would continue to draw increasing numbers of visitors in the future. ``Whenever something like this happens, you get an immediate reaction from the general international traveling public,'' O'Grady said. ``They stop and assess what is happening in the world, and then business returns to normal.'' For O'Grady, whose hotel caters to business travelers in a city where the economy has been booming, normal has meant 100 percent occupancy on many weekdays. The same is true at other upscale hotels in Ho Chi Minh City.

In Hanoi, many visitors said they wouldn't let their travel be hemmed in by the threat of illness or war. Sharon Goodman, 33, a native of Brisbane, Australia, who is visiting Vietnam with her mother, came to Hanoi from Bangkok. As they were about to board their flight, her father called to warn them about the flu. ``You're not going there!'' he told her, but they ignored his advice and came anyway. ``I have a lousy attitude about things like that,'' Goodman said of SARS. ``I figure when your number's up, it's up.''

By Ben Stocking - The Mercury News - March 28, 2003.