Posted on 12/27/2004 7:32:46 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Earthquake, Tidal Waves Crush Korea's Tourism Industry
The powerful earthquake that triggered devastating tidal waves off the waters of the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean is impacting Korea's travel agencies during a peak holiday season.
While on-site rescue efforts are underway, many tourists are bottled up in the region, with delays in flight arrangements as local airports have also been hit by the colossal tidal waves accompanied by the earthquake.
Runways are inundated with water and air traffic control systems at key airports have been rendered out of service.
Korean travel agencies have been flooded with last-minute cancellations to popular destinations in Southeast Asia, including the Maldives and Thailand.
At Seoul's Incheon international airport, travel agents are also recommending customers to postpone their trips and return home while arranging alternative trips to unaffected areas for those insisting on traveling, such as honeymooners.
Travel agencies said they would refund the money or rearrange travel dates or destinations for individuals who could not depart on scheduled trips due to the catastrophe.
There are about 700 Korean tourists in Phucket, Thailand awaiting flights to return home and travel agencies plan to dispatch their staff to take care of their tourists' needs on-site.
Although the scope of damage has yet to be released, observers say the US$8 billion travel industry faces major losses with mass cancellations of booked trips and refunds for customers.
Hyundai Motor, Korea's largest automaker, lost around 1,000 compact automobiles to the tidal wave as they were parked at a port in India, awaiting export. Other Korean companies based in Southeast Asia, in the meantime, are reportedly relatively free from major damage.
Ping!
/john
Right. Destroyed facilities cannot be built overnight.
So does S Korea outsource auto building to India: "Hyundai Motor, Korea's largest automaker, lost around 1,000 compact automobiles to the tidal wave as they were parked at a port in India, awaiting export."
I suspect that those cars were shipped there instead of being manufactured there.
Thanks. The way the article was written, it sounded like they were at the docks waiting to be exported.
They can be rebuilt rather quickly. In the tourist areas, no sign of this disaster will be visible in a few months. The idea that it will be years before tourists return is nonsense.
It's horrible now, just as it was horrible in Florida after each hurricane this year. People are more resilient than we give them credit for.
Everybody should vacation in Fairbanks, Alaska now. Watch the sun return.
You are giving me chills. My idea of vacation is Alaska is to retreat into a stone castle with a huge fire place, burning 24 hours a day and never get out until I go back home.:)
Wear double socks; you'll be fine.
I would think that this one will finally put Lloyds of London out of business for good.
Good thing they have a 10 year, 100,000 mile warranty!
No, I think Hyundai does have automotive plants in India. They do build cars outside Korea because cost is rising in that country as well.
Found this on an Indian news site:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/may/27hyundai.htm
India to be Hyundai's global export hub
Fakir Chand in Bangalore | May 27, 2003 12:18 IST
Hyundai Motor Company, the $47-billion Korean auto giant, is planning to make its Indian manufacturing plant a global export hub in the next 18 months with an additional investment of $200 million.
As its only production facility outside South Korea, the capacity of its Indian subsidiary will be ramped up to 400,000 units annually for catering to the growing domestic and overseas markets, especially in the US, Europe and South America.
"The parent company has decided to turn the Rs 40-billion (Rs 4000 crore) Hyundai Motor India auto plant near Chennai into a global production base for the compact car segment.
"In the first expansion phase, the capacity will be increased to 250,000 units per annum by 2004 from150,000 units currently to step up our exports of Santro Xing to 70,000 cars next year from 30,000 cars projected for the current fiscal (2003-04)," Hyundai Motor India president B V R Subbu told rediff.com in Bangalore on Monday.
With a cumulative investment of $750 million till date, the Korean subsidiary has already upgraded its Irrungattukottai facility to global standards and benchmarked it with its Korean production base.
"Though Hyundai India has emerged as the second largest carmaker in the country in just 5 years with a leadership position in the B (Santro), C (Accent), and E (Sonata) segments, we are aiming to emerge as the country's largest exporter of compact cars in the next couple of years," Subbu claimed.
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Thank you.
It is amazing what we can learn on Free Republic each day.
Given the dollar's drop, Hawaii and SoCal should be cheaper. Will US tourism find an even greater influx from Asia?
I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to hit at the irony here -- I actually sought out the Korean papers after reading about this disaster in the world press, to verify my suspicions that Korea would spin the tragedy from an exclusively Korean point of view, giving very minor coverage to the horrendous magnitude of the loss of life, homes and businesses in the S/SE Asia. Sure enough, I was correct. I believe the headline on the Choson Ilbo that morning exclusively concerned the number of Koreans who might have been in the area at that time. The second article was on the projected negative impact on the ROK tourist trade. The third article was on the loss of life in SE Asia. I know that overseas tourism businesses are essential for both the launching and receiving countries' economies -- but there is a total lack of decency/tact here in how boldly the ROK plays things up from an exclusively Korean angle -- do a search of the world press, and see if you see anything similar elsewhere. I haven't.
I'm with you, OahuBreeze.
The whole focus of this article is the effects of the tragedy on Korean TRAVEL AGENTS. This is a solipsistic hoot! The effect on Korean travel agents is about the same as it might be on travel agents in any country that generates tourism to Southeast Asia.
Not that I'm unsympatheetic. A friend, and my travel agent for the past eight years, Jane Chang, has prpbably seen her business affected by this. She probably had a whole lot of cancellations of tours to Bali two years ago, too, but travel agents are not where our thoughts and prayers should be directed.
I'm more concerned about the situation in Aceh, a place I called home for four years back in the 70s. It has been devastated; in places, utterly devastated.
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