Hong Kong travellers have shrugged off fears of flying after the September 11 terrorist attacks but are still reluctant to board long-haul flights, tourism industry leaders said yesterday.
While the number of bookings for air tickets and holiday tours has picked up steadily since the attacks, heads of the business are still uncertain if a genuine recovery is on the way.
Don Birch, president of Abacus International, which provides travel reservation services for 11 airlines in Asia, said company statistics showed more people were starting to fly again.
The number of bookings this month had surpassed that of January last year, company general manager Lionel Kwok said. But most passengers were taking short-haul flights.
'We can say there are more people travelling, but we don't know if that means the travel industry is in recovery,' he said.
Cathay Pacific's general manager, sales, Dane Cheng, played down reports of an increase.
'Although the overall number is up, there are far fewer long-distance travellers. The number of first-class or business-class passengers in December was also down more than 20 per cent in the year-to-year comparison,' Mr Cheng said.
