Taskforce formed to reassure travellers after bird flu

A taskforce has been established in Asia to deal with threats to travel and tourism in Asia, including the recent outbreak of bird flu. The organisation, called Pacific Asia Coalition for Travel or PACT, is spearheaded by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). It is made up of representatives from airlines, national tourist boards, hotel groups, IATA, the Airports Council International and Abacus. PATA president and chief executive, Peter de Jong said: “We now have a truly representative industry group, which can respond quickly and effectively to health alerts such as bird flu, security risks or any other crisis that could threaten travel and tourism in Asia Pacific.” The aims of PACT are to share ideas and solutions for dealing with crises and to issue accurate information to the media and consumers. Mr de Jong said: “Truth is often the first casualty in a crisis.” PATA formed a similar taskforce last year (Project Phoenix) to deal with the Sars epidemic, which cost the region an estimated US$10 billion. Although Mr de Jong says the bird flu outbreak is on a smaller scale: “The bird flu outbreak has not had anything like the impact of Sars on our industry – and nor should it.”