Economics project
Carmen Lam(20),Monica Lam(21)
聖誕假期外遊 港人至少花 8 億
機位緊張 日韓團九成滿
Date：2009 年 11 月 28 日
Source:明報
即將來臨的聖誕外遊團費較去年同期平均升 5 至 10％，仍無損港人外遊意
欲，以旅遊業議會於 11 月首 24 日收到的印花費推算，港人於年底至少花逾 8 億
元外遊。但因為航空公司在過去 1 年，因應環球經濟環境削減載運力，令今年聖
誕的機位供應緊張，部分如日本、韓國等熱門地點的旅行團已約九成滿。
流感消息淡化 出入境遊看俏
新型流感今年中爆發時，本港旅遊業受創，惟隨市民及旅客消化流感消息，加上
經濟逐漸好轉，今年聖誕不論是出境遊還是入境遊均看俏，旅發局更會斥資 3100
萬元，希望趁聖誕追回之前的旅客跌幅。旅遊業議會指出，反映外遊生意的印花
費，雖然 10 月仍較去年同期跌 11％，惟 11 月卻明顯回升，本月首 24 日收到的
印花費已較去年整個 11 月升 28％，逾 125 萬元，估計 11 月可能較去年同期升四
成。
削減航班 機位料少去年 5%
他指出，雖然今年外遊市道不俗，惟因為航空公司早前削減了航班，未能及時於
聖誕恢復以往載運力，估計機位較去年少 5％。
東瀛遊執行董事承認，因機位整體減少，故供求較緊張。新華旅遊業務發展助理
總經理陳鴻昌亦說，因為聖誕與農曆年相距較遠，部分市民不想等至農曆年才外
遊.
KEY
Factors affecting the demand
Factors affecting the supply
Diagram
Air tickets in Christmas
Description
The airline companies suffered much in the financial tsunami occurred last year.
To fit in with the global financial environment, the airliners reduced the loading
capacity. Although there is a upward trend of travelling abroad this Christmas, the
airline companies cannot recover the loading capacity to the previous level
immediately. Therefore, the passenger seats have reduced by 5% compared with last
year.
On the other hand, as it has been some time since the outbreak of the swine flu,
Hong Kong people have less concerns about the disease, and meanwhile the economy
is recovering. According to the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, the levy
income that reflects the present situation of travelling abroad increased in November,
showing that there are more people travelling. Moreover, some people may think that
there is still a long time gap between Christmas and Chinese New Year, so they will
go abroad at Christmas as they don’t want to wait until New Year.
Explanation
(I)
Firstly, as the Christmas holidays are around the corner, many people will
choose to go abroad to relax because they will have lower time cost during holidays.
Secondly, as the threat of swine flu has diminished, people will feel relieved and may
be more willing to go abroad for a holiday. Thirdly, the economy has been recovering
gradually from the financial tsunami which occurred last year. The income of many
consumers has increased and this leads to an increase in demand for the superior
goods, which is flight services . Therefore, the demand for outbound travelling
services increases, and hence the demand for flights increases.
(II) Due to the financial tsunami which swept the whole world in the past months,
fewer people were willing to consume flight services. People would like to save their
money. Therefore, airliners cut the number of flights and they can’t supply many more
flights all of a sudden during the Christmas holidays. This results in shortage of flight
services. The supply of flights decreases.
(III) Concluding the points, if rise in demand is larger than fall in supply,
equilibrium price rises (P1P2) and the equilibrium quantity rises (Q1Q2).