Asian tourism body launches region-wide travel index

SINGAPORE, July 13 (AFP) - The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) on Friday co-launched a region-wide industry index to provide strategic information to policymakers and executives in the badly-hit sector. In a joint statement with payments giant MasterCard to announce the launch of the MasterIndex of Travel, PATA said the indicator was "specifically tailored to provide valuable information for the strategic planning needs of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries." "Amid the current global environment, the travel industry is changing rapidly," said John Koldowski, managing director of PATA's Strategic Intelligence Centre. "PATA is highly conscious of the challenges that confront the industry. The MasterIndex of Travel will deliver high quality information which will help travel operators make sound business decisions," he said. Covering 12 key regional economies, the index will provide six-month outbound forecasts twice a year in June and December. It will provide information relating to trends in the consumer and travel environments in the 12 markets covered as well as emerging trends, the statement said. The 12 economies included in the index are: Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Tourism in the Asia-Pacific region has been severely affected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis, the impact of which is still being felt despite a successful campaign to contain the viral epidemic. The September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and the Bali bombings in October last year also caused a downturn in travel, but SARS was the worst crisis to hit the industry in decades.