The Impact of a Pandemic (SARS) on Tourism Essay

The Impact of a Pandemic (SARS) on Tourism - Essay Example Introduction Mexico has suffered a huge blow from the outbreak of swine flu in 2009. There has been a drop in the number of tourists from countries including Canada, U.S. and others. The prime reason behind this serious damage to the country’s economy is the outbreak of H1N1 virus a year ago. This virus is commonly known as swine flu. The Mexican economy has declined by 40% in 2009. The economy of Mexico was at its highest peak in the year of 2008.1 The recovery process, however, is on and is being done in a strategic manner. There is a new report on swine flu, which says that the virus H1N1 has surged down in southeastern part of the country these days.2 The southeastern part of the country is the homeland for some of the most popular and beautiful resorts in Mexico. This also includes Riviera Maya and Cancun.3 The effect of swine flu is not limited to Mexico only. Various other nations have started to feel the effect of swine flu. This paper will place a close look at the im pact of swine flu on the tourism industry of Mexico. It will also consider the impact of Swine flu beyond Mexico. For that, it will consider Kenya. Finally the paper will discuss some solution to this problem. Analysis of Swine flu’s impact on Mexican tourism industry The Mexican tourism industry is one of the worst sufferers from the outbreak of swine flu. The effect of swine flu in Mexico was not only limited to micro level, rather it affected the country at macro level. The effect of swine flu in Mexico was not limited to limited to the closure of a few hotels; rather the entire tourism sector was affected badly through the spread of H1N1. Dismal condition of the tourism sector of Mexico affected the entire economy of the country as well.4 The fall of revenue in the tourism sector of Mexico was 43% in 2009 on account of swine flu. It is said that the tourism industry in Mexico is the third largest industrial sector in the country. As far as foreign exchanged program is con cerned, its performance was quite good in 2008 although there were downturn in the global economic market. The increase in revenue from the foreign tourism was 3.5% in 2008. On the other hand, there was a rapid downfall in the revenue by 43% in 2009. This happened due to loss in business after the significant spread of swine flu in the country. This situation had an awful effect in the resorts like Cancun and Riviera Maya. The occupancy of hotel in Cancun was 75%, which dropped down by 20% during May and by early June. This fatal situation made 22 hotels of Cancun to stop their business operation5. The patterns made by air-travels have also changed during that particular year showing tourism slump. There was a decline in air traffic by 50%. This was reported by Grupo Aeropuertuario del Sureste (ASUR).6 The air trafficking was not only affected from the fear of swine flu, but there are some other facts as well. First, as a measure of prevention, the government, airport authorities, l ocal, national as well as international health organizations implemented various types of security checks on the airports. The security system became so complicated in Mexican airports that foreign travelers started to hesitate to visit Mexico. The system incorporated different sorts of complex virus check in order to ensure that no viral infected outsider enters the nation.7 Second, government also imposed