Tsunami fears still hurting Asian tourism

The Asia-Pacific region could lose as much as $3bn (€2.2bn) in tourist revenue this year because of concerns among international travellers about visiting Asia following the December 26 tsunami, a business executive said today.

The comment by Paul Dowling, a Singapore-based senior vice president of Visa International, came as Visa released a survey that showed some tourists might stay away from Asia even though most resorts were not damaged in the tsunami.