There's just too much good news around in tourism, so Yeoh Siew Hoon goes searching for the real news most of us miss.

Ever had the feeling that you should pinch yourself just to convince yourself you're not dreaming because things are just too good to be true …

That's how I am feeling these days.
I am just not used to the deluge of good news I've been hearing of late – on the tourism front, I mean.
Everywhere I turn, it's all good stuff.

From World Travel Market, "Global tourism is on the rebound as world travelers gain confidence from a long-awaited economic recovery and downgrade their fears over international terrorism and health scares, according to a report by a tourism industry group."

The World Tourism Organisation reported the number of worldwide arrivals rose 12 percent to around 526 million in the first eight months of 2004, and the figure is expected to remain in double digits for the entire year.

And growth is across the board – instead of one region at the expense of another – for the first time since the September 11 attacks.

You don't have to read the papers or digest such statistics to feel that travel is once again in the air.

I was in Hong Kong this month and I had to beg, steal and borrow a room for one night. Hotels were overbooked and a usually quiet November turned out to be bursting at the seams.

It was good to see Hong Kong buzzing again. It reminded me of the good old bad days of the late 1980s when come each October, I would find myself reporting about the hotel overbooking situation and travel agents crying foul because they couldn't get their rooms at the rate they wanted.

The scene was the same in Singapore most of November with hotels reporting stronger than expected occupancies and customers begging for rooms.

In Kota Kinabalu, where I spent a few days break over the Deepavali and Hari Raya holidays, hotels were also full. Sabah's capital city is at long last enjoying the rewards of consistent marketing and persistent lobbying for direct international flights.
Airlines such as Australian Airlines, AirAsia and DragonAir have changed the face of Kota Kinabalu. I must confess, it is one of my favourite destinations in Malaysia and it was good to see resorts such as Shangri-La's Tanjong Aru Resort humming with energy.

With all these good news around, I am beginning to wonder, what's the catch? What's around the corner? Not that I am a cynic or pessimist, mind you, but they do say, all good things must come to an end.

Anyway, to distract myself from all the good news and give myself a dose of reality, I have taken to watching Singapore Idol. In the Singapore version of the hugely popular American Idol, talent is voted out.

The cliffhanger semi-final in which three Idols competed to be the final two was about as cliffhanger as the US elections – you just knew who was going to lose despite the media telling you what a close call it was.

I have also taken to reading obscure news items that people tend to overlook.

There's one about a English woman who's set up a novel business – she gets paid £50 an hour to flirt with boyfriends and husbands to make their spouses jealous. "It is a simple idea and it works like a dream. It's a service for any husband or boyfriend who feels his partner has stopped paying him enough attention," says the woman.

I wonder if the idea would work in Asia.

This is my favourite news item of the week. A former women's minister in Austria claims he has a problem – he can't hear women's voices. Apparently, he cannot hear sounds over 3,500 Herz, the range in which many female voices lie.

He admitted this flaw during a Parliamentary debate when he complained he could not understand a female colleague during a debate. She was then told to speak in a deeper voice.

This gives selective hearing in men a whole new meaning.


The SHY Report
A regular column on news, trends and issues in the hospitality industry by one of Asia's most respected travel editors and commentators, Yeoh Siew Hoon.

Siew Hoon, who has covered the tourism industry in Asia/Pacific for the past 20 years, runs SHY Ventures Pte Ltd. Her company's mission is "Content, Communication, Connection". She is a writer, speaker, facilitator, trainer and events producer. She is also an author, having published "Around Asia In 1 Hr: Tales of Condoms, Chillies & Curries". Her motto is ‘free to do, and be'.
Contacts: Tel: 65-63424934, Mobile: 65-96801460

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