South East Asian Tsunamis Washed Millions of Euros Away From French Tour Operators

The seaquake that hit South East Asia in late December has cost French travel operators as many as €85 million with more than fifty percent of would-be travelers calling off trips to the region, the organization that groups France´s travel agencies and tour operators, CETO, reported this week.

CETO execs, who recently sat down in Paris with governmental officials linked to the travel industry, said the biggest dent so far is in the January reservations to travel destinations on the Maldives Islands and in Sri Lanka, with similarly high levels of booking cancellations between February and April.

Companies clustered under CETO´s leadership raked in €191 million last year in those countries of South East Asia that were swept by the tsunamis. Out of that total, roundtrip plane tickets churned out €37 million, while travel packages reeled in €154 million.

Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia account for over 65 percent of CETO´s total business operations in Asia and little more than 11 percent of all intercontinental travel destinations.