For fear of exposure to coronavirus, people have started cancelling their travel plans to foreign countries.
Reji Philip, partner in Cosmos Agencies, a travel agency based in Fort area said that the business is affected to such an extent that he has asked his employees to go on unpaid leave. “There is no work. We are only doing cancellation these days,” he said.
The cancellations began about two weeks ago, he says. It started with people cancelling trips to China, and then slowly to the Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, Hong Kong and now Italy. With the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, people have started cancelling their Europe trips too.
Leisure travel is the first category to get cancelled, as people see it as an avoidable misery, said Philip. Trips of as far as three and four months from now have also got cancelled. “Earlier people asked for other sectors such as South Africa, but now they don’t do that. Domestic travel is also affected, he says, with very few opting for it. But, relatively, they do prefer domestic to international travel and have inquired for Lakshadweep and Kerala, he says.
Floyd Menezes of FM Travel Consultants confirmed that trips are indeed being cancelled with people not travelling to China, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Italy and France. “Domestic travel has increased to locations like Goa and south India though,” he said.
“People have panicked and have started asking whether they can even go to the US,” says Philip and added that there are 60 to 70 per cent cancellations. Airlines such as Go China, Air China and Singapore Airlines are giving a waiver, whereas others allow a rescheduling, which is open for one year or six months, so people are using these options.
Those who have booked through portals are having difficulty in the cancellation process, but those who have booked through travel agencies have it easier, said Philip, as the portals are seeking waivers from airlines on the cancellations and getting the tourists full refunds.
A city-based advocate who had planned a leisure trip to Dubai in May, but cancelled the trip due to the Coronavirus scare, said, “A person who came from Dubai to Telangana was found to be carrying coronavirus. Why should I go there? To get exposed?” she reasoned.
