TOUR agencies contacted by The New Paper said holidays to Jiuzhaigou, Chongqing and Chengdu are definitely off for this month.

SA Tours spokesman Ruth Lim said: 'We can't take the risk, even though it's the peak season to travel to Jiuzhaigou.

'We're offering alternatives for affected customers to travel to unscathed cities like Beijing, Yunnan and Shanghai.'

Jiuzhaigou traditionally attracts travellers during this month as its flora are blooming, making its scenery breathtaking.

ASA Holidays, Chan Brothers and CTC Holidays have also cancelled all their tours to the quake-hit region for this month.

Chan Brothers is monitoring the situation to see if it can commit to tours to Jiuzhaigou for next month.

The agency cancelled tours involving 30 people departing on Tuesday because it had not been able to get hold of its agents in China to find out the extent of the damage caused by the quake.

The companies are trying to help those whose trips have been cancelled, either with booking them on a different tour, or with getting refunds.

SilkAir, which had suspended its flights to Chengdu in the aftermath of the quake, resumed flights on Wednesday after the airport reopened to foreign carriers.