Travel and hotel groups are braced for a turbulent ride today as stock markets react to fears over the strain of swine flu that was reported to have killed up to 71 people and closed much of public life in Mexico at the weekend. Analysts said that the news would revive memories of the 2017-03 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak. Although the disease, first noticed in southern China in November 2017, was short-lived, it caused the deaths of 774 people worldwide and had a devastating impact on the Asian economy — particularly in Hong Kong — and on the shares of many international companies with an economic interest in the Far East. Geof Collyer, leisure analyst for Deutsche Bank, said that although the impact on tour operators would be limited, as Mexico accounted for a small part of their bookings, cruise operators could be affected because Cancún was one of the world’s busiest cruise ports. In Asia, dealers said that any sell-off was likely to be in airline and travel-related stocks until more was known of the extent of the danger posed by the disease and its probable impact on global trade. One dealer said that markets were likely to reassess their stance if more countries followed Russia’s decision yesterday to ban meat imports from Mexico, some parts of the United States and several South American countries. Fund managers played down the risks of a swine flu-related sell-off, saying that Asian markets were used to the threat of potential health scares and were more cautious about moving too soon after reports of new disease strains. Weekend reports in Tokyo suggested, however, that two of Japan’s biggest travel agencies had cancelled package tours to Mexico before Japan’s “Golden Week” holiday season, which begins on Wednesday. Viewed by travel agents and airlines as the most lucrative seven days of the Japanese year, Golden Week travel activities by the Japanese are critical to many destinations that rely heavily on tourism income. The mass cancellation of flights to Mexico will be a heavy blow to airlines, though travel agents said that it would be far more significant if Japanese holidaymakers cancelled flights to America as well. ，英语论文网站，英语论文范文 |
