Tourism industry keeping an eye on bird flu

The tourism industry is keeping a wary eye on the spread of Asian bird flu and is already planning its response to a pandemic that could see New Zealand seal off its borders.

The high-risk H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed 60 of the 116 people infected in Asia since late 2003 and the European Commission has advised Europe to prepare for a pandemic.

The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 20 million people worldwide and experts say that although two other outbreaks, in 1957 and 1968, had vastly lower death rates, they caused global disruptions.

This week, Southern Travel Holdings said "gathering commentary about Asian bird flu" was one of a number of major issues facing the tourism industry in Australia and New Zealand.

Managing director Kiyomi Gunji said concerns about the flu were behind a recent fall-off in customers from New Zealand's fourth-largest market, Japan.

"Even if they are not actually worried about the destination itself, if they have to come through crowded airports in other countries, they may think twice and may postpone until things settle down."

Tourism Industry Association chief executive Fiona Luhrs said it had been in contact with members about the flu threat as some operators had inquired about how they should prepare.

"We've alerted them to the fact it will be an issue for the industry if it happened and that there's a lot of planning going on within the Government and agencies such as ourselves."

Luhrs said the association had been working with the Ministry of Health to develop a strategy to cope with a bird flu outbreak. Much of that included the sort of generic advice being prepared for other industries.

The association was following up with a plan for practical steps that could be taken. That included detailed advice about issues such as the impact of border closure.

Accommodation providers "might have people staying with them who can't fly out. Who pays when the money runs out?"

Other issues included the general welfare of guests, the responsibilities of hosts with regard to sick guests if hospitals were full, and travel insurance.

"Once we get more detailed information out to them, we would hope that they'd have enough to be able to put a good plan together for their business."

The association was prepared to run regional seminars on how to prepare for the worst.

"How we manage visitors during this pandemic is going to have big implications for the post-pandemic recovery of the industry."

Tourism Holdings managing director Denis Pickup said his company had not seen any effect on business from concerns about bird flu but was preparing measures to cope with a pandemic.

"But it could be like Sars where the media hype is greater than the incidence of it."

The outbreak of Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in southern China in 2002 and its spread from Asia to Canada in 2003 was contained quickly and the associated shocks to economies were minimal.

Pickup said at this stage bird flu looked more likely to affect Asia and Eastern Europe than New Zealand.