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As clouds of war are looming large over the Middle East, tourism industry in this region is affected to some extent. So far, some major travel agencies have suspended the Mid East routes, while others that are still operating trips to Egypt and Turkey have raised the quotation by 500 to 600 yuan.
As learned, majority of Beijing-based travel services including China International Travel Service (CITS), China Travel Service (CTS) and China Youth Travel Service (CYTS) has temporarily cancelled Egypt and Turkey tours out of safety concern. According to a staff with the outbound department of the CTS headquarters, if the US-led war against Iraq breaks out and is even locked in a stalemate, not only the Mid East tour will be frozen, but also the whole outbound tourism market will be severely struck.
A personage with a travel agency, which is now busy recruiting tourists to Egypt and Turkey, said "due to the ticket price rise as well as comparative difficulty in visa transaction", price for the Mid East tour has been rocketing by 500 to 600 yuan. For instance, price for eight-day Egyptian and Turkish tour has increased to 12,500 yuan.
The cost also includes personal accident insurance worth 300,000 yuan. Once accidents occur, "the rest costs except those for air ticket and visa transaction will be refunded to tourists".
(People's Daily March 21, 2003)
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