The press is awash with articles about the impact of swine flu on tourism. Matt Hingerty of ATEC yesterday warned on Australian radio that Swine Flu could result in Australia experiencing 15,000 less tourists in the next two months as travellers from the likes of Singapore, Japan and China choose not to travel. I have already heard first hand of hostels receiving cancellations for bookings.

One factor though that I have not really countenanced that could have tremendous impact on the travel industry is the risk that large amounts of staff may find themselves quarantined due to flu outbreaks. We now know that Swine Flu is not going to kill everyone but it is still the case that those exposed to it need to stay away from others for up to three weeks. It seems to me it is not a case of if but when Swine Flu reaches large tourism businesses what the impact will be.

It is now skiing season and for New Zealand resorts for example literally hundreds of thousands of Australians will flock to our shores. For many in the industry this winter season is seen as an absolutely saving grace in what has not been the best summer for international traveller numbers. However, if Swine Flu was to appear in a number of staff running one of the skifields it may be the case that the resorts would have to operate on low staff numbers or even shut for a period. Either scenario being almost catastrophic.

In Australia Swine Flu numbers have ballooned in comparison to New Zealand (1,300 versus 30) and I think that in both countries we need to be thinking about what would happen if large numbers of staff were not available for work – how would this impact on the tourism industry?