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Analysts: 'No impact' yet from A/H1N1 flu for China's economy

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-05-08 19:36

Though outbreaks of A/H1N1 across the world have China on alert, economists said the flu isn't having much impact on the Chinese economy.

Tourism and exports are considered most vulnerable to disruption, but operators said their business has not been seriously affected.

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Wang Yuan, manager of the domestic tourism division of China CYTS Tours Holding Co Ltd, said: "There is no obvious change in domestic tourism. It's safe in China and people have not changed their travel plans."

Wang said the company had closely followed the situation and would take any necessary measures if conditions changed. She said CYTS required tour guides to inform tourists to pay more attention to hygiene, for example, washing their hands before dining.

Sun Changwei, executive general manager of the outbound division of China CYTS Tours Holding Co Ltd said about 5 percent of outbound tourists canceled their trips in the past three days mainly due to flu fears.

"The majority of our business remains normal," Sun said.

He said the company now provided face masks to tourists bound for the United States and made minor changes on travel plans to avoid going to overcrowded places or rural areas where there were pig farms.

Liu Jie, a business manager with Sino-Right Investment and Development Group Ltd, a Beijing-based export company, said: "Our construction projects in Mexico would have to be postponed as many workers are staying home. If there was other business there, we would not dare to take it and would have to postpone it and wait.

"The majority of our business is not affected, only staff travel," said Liu. She said cargo shipments hadn't been affected.

She said the company had given top priority to staff health and two of their engineers had returned to China from Mexico on May 1. The two were released from quarantine Thursday in good health. "Two others have to stay in Mexico to supervise some projects and they are now our top concern," Liu said.

Analysts said the A/H1N1 flu epidemic had not had an obvious impact on China's economy.

Zhang Yansheng, head of the foreign economy research institution with the National Development and Reform Commission, said: "The impact of the A/H1N1 flu on the Chinese economy is limited."

"The flu so far has not damaged the economy as SARS did in 2003," said Zhang, "If there was any impact, it would be on the expectations of consumers and investors."

Mei Xinyu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Finance, said: "The epidemic has had little impact on the Chinese economy so far.

"China has beefed up precautionary measures. The country has improved its capacity to deal with emergencies after having suffered SARS and last year's earthquake," he said.

"Meanwhile, China's major business partners are the United States and European countries. Mexico does not rank high among China's major business partners," Mei said.

"The influence of the flu is now psychological. It's not necessary to be too nervous about its impact on China's economy," Mei said.