Holidaymakers are being offered more than a third off the cost of overseas breaks as travel agents try to offset the stock market crash and haze crisis, it emerged yesterday.
Agents reported prices had dropped by up to 40 per cent to Thailand, 30 per cent to Indonesia and 10 per cent to Malaysia.
Peter Chan, manager at Continental Travel Services in Tsim Sha Tsui, said the travel industry had no choice but to launch a cut-price holiday bonanza.
'The economic situation in Hong Kong is so bad people are not willing to pay high prices to go abroad at the moment,' he said.
Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yao-chung said airlines were leading the way by slashing ticket prices in a bid to fill seats.
'It is a chain reaction. As fewer people come to Hong Kong, more outbound seats are also empty as obviously not as many people are leaving Hong Kong too,' he said.
Yesterday Cathay Pacific, British Airways and Singapore Airlines all confirmed they were offering exceptional price deals.
