Who would benefit from LCAs coming to China and North Asia?
A- Travellers will be the big winners, with lower fares and a larger range of destinations on offer. Business travellers and leisure travellers in the region stand to benefit and travel companies may have to find ways to participate in the revolution which will account for much of the growth in the region. But this does not go far enough. Travellers generate business, increasing consumption, generating demand in new places for new products, and lifting the level of business being done. Even for leisure travellers, lower fares may mean more to spend at the destination. Any real reduction in the cost of air travel (and air freight) as a result of the expansion of LCAs will reduce the costs of business, improve productivity and lift output generally. This is especially true as the economies of North Asia become more integrated, with growing trade, tourism and investment flows among them. In addition, the World Travel and tourism Council estimated in 2003 that travel and tourism directly a
