BUSINESS to China has started to return to normal after last month’s anti-NATO demonstrations in Beijing which badly affected sales.
Some operators lost as much as 50% of their bookings in the wake of the demonstrations, held in protest at NATO’s bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, which occurred during the peak month for travel to China.
Airwaves managing director Bill Archer said:”Half of our clients who had already booked tours to the country decided tocancel.”
But he said bookings were getting back to normal levels.
“I do not think media coverage of the demonstrations will harm future bookings,” he added.
Kuoni product manager Linda Miles said the operator had experienced difficulties selling China in the wake of the demonstrations, but she said the destination was now “holding its own”.
“There has been no dramatic growth to China, but things are looking more positive at the moment and now we have Shanghai as another gateway, with the launch of Virgin’s flights from the UK, I think it will pick up,” she said.
Adventure travel specialist The Imaginative Traveller claimed its business had not been affected by the protests.
Managing director Martin Dunn said:”We continued with our programme because our customers did not want to cancel and everything went smoothly.”
To show its commitment to China, The Imaginative Traveller has trebled its programme to the destination for 1999-2000, with the introduction of five new itineraries and more departure dates.