MERS virus infects regional tourism

Since MERS-CoV has hit South Korea, thousands of travellers have cancelled their tours

The total number of MERS cases has surpassed 1,200, and while most of them took place in Saudi Arabia, the outbreak has now reached South Korea. The country has reported 19 deaths and 154 infections so far, following the initial outbreak of the virus in May.

According to the Korean Tourism Organisation (KTO), some 25,000 people who planned to visit South Korea have cancelled their trips in recent weeks, 85 per cent of them coming from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. This has obviously had a massive impact on the retail and hospitality sectors. Top hotels in Seoul reported a slight decrease in bookings in the first weeks of June, but they mainly cater for business travellers. Fears and concerns are also causing people to refrain from visiting zoos, as it is said that camels transmit the virus. The outbreak has limited both inbound and outbound trips, as citizens have been advised against travelling altogether. Neighbouring travel destinations such as Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan have already issued alerts, and are putting preventative measures in place. It has also caused stocks to drop sharply in Hong Kong where tests were carried out on patients suspected of having the disease. Taiwan’s two leading airlines also announced plans to temporarily cut almost half of their scheduled flights to South Korea, while health officials work to eradicate the virus.

In Vietnam, there has been no recorded case of the MERS-CoV virus, but amidst the complicated developments of this outbreak, epidemiologists have said that MERS-CoV may yet enter Vietnam via passengers hailing from infected areas.

“People should not be too anxious as the health sector and relevant agencies are actively implementing preventative measures against this epidemic and are ready to deal with MERS-CoV,” said Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long.

Vietnam’s health sector has raised public awareness to prevent the disease from entering Vietnam. If any case is detected, patients will be treated under quarantine. When the disease first appeared in 2012, the Ministry of Health (MoH) issued a plan to cope with it, and a plan was adopted in 2014 to prevent and control MERS-CoV in three specific situations. The ministry has also updated further measures to deal with the virus.

With fears of the disease increasing at pace, at major travel agencies such as Saigontourist, Vietravel and Fiditour, most of tourists who booked Korean tours asked to change their tour to Japan or elsewhere. So far, travel agencies have been making these cancellations without charge, while airlines have also been supporting travel agencies to change times and scheduled flights for tourist groups.

Tran Thi Viet Huong, marketing and communication director of Vietravel, also confirmed that many tourists had cancelled their tours to Korea. “We have prepared preventative measures including the supply of medical masks, as well as access to health consultants, and guides with good healthcare training for those who fixed their tours with us.”

Nguyen Tien Dat, deputy director of Transviet said that to ensure the safety of customers, his company had cancelled all tours to Korea until such time as the disease was brought under control.

Looking back to the SARS virus that hit Hong Kong in 2003, the territory suffered a 0.6 per cent decline in GDP and dropped a 68 per cent in arrivals to the city. At the moment, it’s hard to predict how severely an impact the warnings and precautions will have on South Korea’s tourism sector but nevertheless preventing the spread of MERS continues to be the top priority.