ALKHOBAR, 28 September — More than a fortnight after the US terrorist attacks, the outlook for the travel and tourism industry remains bleak. In the Kingdom, bookings at travel agencies are still down. Not only is tourism in a slump, but many Saudi companies have implemented policies canceling all non-essential business travel.

The only bright spot is the weekend tourism activities in Bahrain. Thanks to visitors from Saudi Arabia, many 5-star hotels in Bahrain are reporting nearly 100 percent occupancy on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

At least now expatriates are not planning to bolt from the Kingdom. Much of the talk of evacuation from Saudi Arabia diminished after several embassies held meetings with citizen representatives over the past week. The expatriates were emphatically told that as there hasn’t even been an “authorized departure advisory,” for the Kingdom, that gossiping about evacuation was unwarranted hysteria. The expatriates were also informed that if ever there was an authorized departure advisory for families or non-essential personnel from Saudi Arabia, that travel expenses were the responsibility of individual expatriates or their companies, depending on contractual terms, and departures would be on scheduled commercial flights.

Syed S. Taj, manager, sales, Eastern Saudi Arabia, AlZouman Aviation, confirmed that the evacuation rumors have ceased. “Those fears have died down. One trend we have noticed is that some companies have been purchasing open tickets for senior managers from Asia. Such tickets are very expensive since they are not discounted, but they are fully refundable. Companies have been taking this step to give their senior managers confidence. Those tickets do not guarantee a seat on a flight. What they do make possible is the immediate confirming of a reservation because a ticket has already been purchased. These tickets usually cannot be used though on charter flights that might be arranged by individual governments in the event of a true emergency.”

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council while the current situation for the travel industry is dire, long-term the outlook for travel and tourism demand is expected to slowly brighten as consumer confidence about safety and security recover. Annualized over the next twelve months, the decrease in travel and tourism demand is currently expected to total 10-20 percent in the United States and less in the rest of the world, including Europe and Asia.

Based on a standardized hypothetical case scenario of just a 10 percent decrease in travel and tourism demand, the WTTC still predicts a major impact on national, regional and world employment and GDP. A 10 percent decrease in travel and tourism demand would result in the following:

• United Kingdom: decrease of 1.9 percent of total GDP for the UK economy and the loss of 190,000 jobs.

• European Union: decrease of 1.9 percent of total GDP for the EU economy and the loss of 1.2 million jobs.

• United States: decrease of 1.8 percent of total GDP for the US economy and the loss of 1.1 million jobs.

• World: Decrease of 1.7 percent of total GDP for the world economy and the loss of 8.8 million jobs.

With the potential for huge job loses, the WTTC is urging all governments to recognize the serious implications to their overall economies and implement policies with the private sector that will aid the industry’s immediate survival and long-term recovery.

“In exceptional times we need exceptional measures,” said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of WTTC.

The Council has called for a government partnership with industry to help restore consumer confidence within travel and tourism, one of the biggest industries in the world. WTTC figures show the travel and tourism industry generates $4,494 billion in economic activity or approximately 11 percent of global GDP. Travel and tourism accounts for 8.2 percent of total world employment equaling about 207.06 million jobs globally.

Do regional industry leaders have such a depressive outlook? Here’s what Mishal Kanoo, Kanoo Group, Dubai, had to say:

“I believe that this incident is going to impact the region in several ways. The obvious one is the number of visitors traveling to this part of the world. In the past, while Americans might not have differentiated us from the Arabs of the Levant, today, even the Europeans might take the same attitude. ... Also, many of our governments had geared themselves up to making tourism one of the alternative sources of income as opposed to oil. The amounts spent on such projects have been noticeable in the last few years. This incident is going to play havoc with the idea of more spending for the rest of this year — forget about the foreseeable future.