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From September 2005 to September 2006, the world's poultry
industry suffered approximately US$2 billion in losses due to the bird
flu epidemic.
"The global poultry industry has suffered direct losses of $2 billion
due to lower prices. This is equal to 14 percent of the total value of
world trade," National Avian Influenza Control Commission chairman Bayu
Krisnamurthi said Friday in Jakarta as quoted by Antara.
Apart from the direct financial losses, Bayu said, indirect losses had
also been severe, including lower incomes for poultry breeders, lower
poultry consumption and lower nutritional intake as a result of
people's unwillingness to consume poultry products.
"The indirect losses are about 1.7 times the value of the direct
losses, or about $3.4 billion," he estimated.
He said that in Indonesia alone, the poultry industry had suffered Rp
1.1 trillion in losses due to bird flu.
Furthermore, he said, the bird flu outbreak had also affected tourism.
"Because the tourism industry is highly dependent on public
perceptions, erroneous perceptions about bird flu have resulted in
people being nervous about visiting places where they think there is
bird flu," he said.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association's head of international affairs,
Ron Muller, said that the impact of bird flu could be seen in the drop
in tourism earnings that had occurred since last year.
"Bird flu has had a big impact on the tourism industry. Our earnings
have dropped by 40 percent. In Bali, they have actually dropped by 50
percent," said Muller, who is also the owner of the Papapizza chain.
Muller said that in order to minimize the adverse effects on tourism,
his association had been campaigning to counter mistaken perceptions.
"This bird flu issue has affected many people, including businesses.
Hopefully, with business involved in the campaign, we can all overcome
the problem together," he said.
In Indonesia, the first cases of bird flu in fowl were detected in 2003
and the first cases in humans in 2005. Since July 2005, the bird flu
virus has infected 74 people and resulted in the deaths of 57. The most
recent victim, a 6-year-old child, died at the Adam Malik Hospital in
Medan, North Sumatra, last month.
The country has become one of the front lines in the battle against the
disease. No other nation has suffered from more deaths than Indonesia,
where millions of chickens roam backyards freely.
According to the World Health Organization, bird flu remains
essentially an animal disease, but it has infected more than 250 people
worldwide since late 2003, killing more than 150, Reuters reported.
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