How is Asia coping with the global financial crisis?

An article published in Australia has a scary summary of how bad things are going in Asia. But then media like to scare the bejesus out of the public. Sensationalism sells and a crisis is always sensational news. If it’s any consolation, the same article says the global financial crisis has not been felt so badly in Southeast Asian countries where agriculture is strong. Maybe so, but I live in the Philippines, a Southeast Asian country, and layoffs are going on right and left. For city dwellers dependent on employment, things are going very, very badly indeed.

One of the industries worst hit is travel. Right, who wants to travel when the average person is barely making the mortgage? There are two assessments, however, that may give us a clue on how businesses can cope. In “2009 Shaping as Watershed Year for Asian Travel Industry” published in Focus on Travel News, the CEO and President of Abacus International, a travel facilitator was quoted as saying, “We believe many players in Asia’s travel industry will be stress-tested by the conditions the industry will encounter in 2009 and the winners will be those with underlying capital strength, the smartest and most nimble strategies, and the strongest customer relationships.”

There’s the operative phrase — smartest and most nimble strategies. The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation appears to understand perfectly. From Al Bawaba:

In a recent report, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) predicts that low-cost carriers (LCCs) will sees increased demand in terms of both traffic growth and earnings this year compared to traditional airlines.

Exactly. Instead of focusing on luxuries and amenities, shift to basics. It’s a strategy that has long been adopted by the Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific with its P1 airfare. If the hotel industry can find some parallel strategy, the travel industry may cushion the blow of the global crisis. After all, not everyone travels for pleasure. A lot of people travel for business reasons. And even among those who travel for pleasure, the majority go for reasonable rates rather than luxury accommodations. It’s a business model that can be adopted by any industry.

Meanwhile, how are Asian governments coping? Let’s see…

In Taiwan, the President is giving out $164 shopping vouchers and 21 million Taiwanese have collected theirs. India, meanwhile, has adopted some protectionist policy by banning toy imports from China.

The Philippine government aims to create some 1.3 million new jobs by using the reforestation fund.

Temporary measures, no doubt, but still better than nothing.

[Photo from StockXchng]