The worsening swine flu pandemic has Australia’s tourism sector worried, with experts concerned that any fall in visitor numbers could compound the damage done by the global financial crisis.
The outbreak continues to worsen, with the virus claiming the life of a 22-month old child in the United States as the World Health Organisation upgraded the severity level of the crisis.
Another death in Los Angeles is also being investigated, while the number of confirmed cases in the US has climbed to 91 in 10 separate states, up from 65 in just a day.
Mexico has doubled the number of confirmed cases of the virus to 49, including seven deaths.
Germany has confirmed three cases of the virus, while Costa Rica and Austria have confirmed there are citizens infected. Spain currently has 10 total cases that have been confirmed as swine flu.
There are currently no confirmed cases of the virus in Australia, but over 90 people are still awaiting test results after having travelled internationally.
The World Health Organisation has again lifted its alert level to phase five out of six, the second upgrade in less than a week. WHO chief Margaret Chan says that a pandemic is “imminent”.
“All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans,” Chan said in an announcement following. “It really is all of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic.”
US President Barack Obama said that the swine flu outbreak is a “serious situation” requiring “utmost precautions”.
“Every American should know that the Federal Government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus,” he said.
But while Australia has yet not confirmed any cases of the virus within its borders, business experts are saying the flu could do a lot of damage to the economy.
Ian Murray, executive director of the Australian Institute of Export, says he hasn’t heard any reports of dwindling business but is concerned for the tourism industry.
“We haven’t had people contacting us saying they’re cutting back on travel; people we’re doing business with in Mexico might have issues, but we haven’t had any feedback.
“But inbound tourism can’t afford to have another kick, which is already suffering due to the global economic environment. Things like international conferences with big corporations spending money taking people around the world, that would be significantly reduced.”
Olivia Wirth, executive director of the Tourism and Transport Forum, says it is too early to call what the impact will be on travel, but says the memories of the impact of the SARS virus are still fresh.
“The tourism industry was impacted by SARS and the impact was severe, and it was sudden, and immediate, and there was an 8% decline in travel to Australia because of that. But it is important to remember that once SARS was under control the market picked up quickly.”
Tim Harcourt from Austrade says the Government is closely monitoring the situation, and is concerned about any impact on trading partners.
“Anything that affects travel and tourism is serious. Mexico is one of our biggest trading partners and to that extent we take it seriously. SARS affected us to a greater extent because it was in south-east Asia, but we are also taking this situation very seriously as well.”
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Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
