"SARS has made us suffer so much. Even if we can overcome the outbreak in the next one or two months, it will take a few more months for confidence to travel to return," Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, Malaysia’s culture, arts and tourism minister said.
"This time ASEAN countries need to find a meaningful way to cooperate. We need to tap the region’s 500 million population. We should remove travel restrictions and cut red-tape," Abdul Kadir told the opening of the ASEAN National Tourism Organization’s meeting.
The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Asia has hit the key tourism industry badly, forcing huge reductions in flights as visitors have stayed away in droves.
Abdul Kadir lamented that numerous ASEAN resolutions to promote inter-regional travel have been made in the past but had not been followed through.
"We have been making so many resolutions about intra-ASEAN travel but unfortunately, we have not been making any headway. I think all of us must be blamed," he said.
The meeting, grouping government officials and the private sector, is evaluating the impact of SARS on the industry and seeking ways to overcome the crisis.
Abdul Kadir said Malaysia has been seriously hit by SARS with sharp falls in tourist arrivals.
The country had hoped to record 15 million arrivals for 2003, up from 13.2 million the previous year, with tourism its second largest foreign exchange earner after manufacturing.
Such hopes now look completely unrealistic, with most hotels reporting a near catastrophic fall in occupancy rates to between 25 and 30 percent last month and airlines cutting flights drastically.
Abdul Kadir urged Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar, in particular, to lift their travel restrictions.
"We should consider travel within ASEAN as part of domestic travel. I think we should not be selfish and encourage our people to travel to other ASEAN countries," he said.
Abdul Kadir said tourists from outside of the region have been discouraged by first the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US, then the October Bali bombing and now SARS.
"Our tourism industry is being held ransom by these events. Hence we need to simplify existing travel procedures," he said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Tran Duc Minh, deputy secretary-general of the Jakarta-based ASEAN secretariat on tourism, said the industry in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam has been severely hit by SARS.
"There is an urgent need to promote intra-ASEAN travel to restore the industry. The removal of travel restriction can spur travel. We need to fight SARS together," he said.
Argus Salim Abdul Razak, president of the ASEAN Tourism Association, said the group was working with the various governments to find ways to encourage travel.
"The need is clear. We need to sustain travel. We are looking at air and hotel discounts and other attractive packages for tourists to travel within ASEAN," he said.