Influenza A outbreaks hurting local travel, recreation businesses: report

SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- The widespread local outbreak of Influenza A has hurt
local travel and recreation-related businesses and may affect overall economic
recovery efforts, a government report said Tuesday.

The third quarter service industry report showed growth rebounding 2.1 percent
on-year, but travel, private academies, theme parks, pubs and certain
transportation sectors are all feeling the pinch of the flu scare, the Ministry
of Strategy and Finance said.
"The flu epidemic is starting to have a negative impact on normal activities and
spending, and if this is not checked, it may start to hurt certain industries," a
official said.
As of last week there were an average 8,857 people confirmed as having caught the
new flu every day last week up from 4,420 tallied the week before. A total of 42
people have died in the country from the flu since mid-August.
The latest findings showed sales figures posted for travel and tourism businesses
plunging 24.9 percent from the year before with both rail and bus transportation
dipping 5.5 percent and 3.5 percent each.
Local theme parks were down 7.6 percent in the July-September period with numbers
for video game arcades and sports stadiums dropping 5.7 percent vis-a-vis the
third quarter of 2008.
The ministry added that concerns of contracting the flu may have hurt the sales
of local pubs and restaurants whose sales were down 7.0 percent and 2.7 percent
respectively.
Private academies, in addition, reported earnings fall 7.0 percent as concerned
parents kept their children at home.
The report, however, showed earnings posted by hospitals and clinics going up
10.3 percent on-year, with medical supply retailers reporting sales gains of 4.3
percent.
Related to the rapid spread of the flu, Seoul plans to raise the flu alert status
to its highest "red" level that could permit better pooling of personnel
resources and state-supported measures to combat the virus.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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