BENGALURU: With the COVID-19 going viral rapidly in many countries, the travel sector seems to be hit badly. Travel agents in Bengaluru are seeing cancellations of summer vacation tickets to countries across South Asia. “We had booked tickets to Japan to see the cherry blossoms by the end of March. Everything was planned but then there were travel advisories against going to the affected countries. We don’t want to take a risk,” said Spandana Acharya, assistant principal at a private school.
Confirming this, Classic Travels, a leading travels firm in South Bengaluru, said, “Yes, it’s a loss for us. Many of them are not coming forward to do the bookings and some who have booked want to cancel. However, we are trying to convince them that nothing would happen,” Amarnath A, owner, Classic Travels, said.
Meanwhile, the agents also do not want to risk anything. They claim that they themselves are not in a situation to guarantee if the virus would be controlled in the next two months and it won’t spread to other countries.
Most of the travel agents are now suggesting places like Greece and Switzerland instead of Singapore, Japan and China. “We’re feeling very frustrated and fed up,” said Sunil Rajan from Indiranagar whose family had booked a “holiday of a lifetime” in Vietnam this summer. Another person who cancelled his trip to Italy said, “ I haven’t got money to throw away but my wife and I had to make a decision. There’s probably a very small risk flying out there but who knows. Better to be safe than sorry. It’s a long flight, we don’t want to risk it,” said Niven A T, a businessman.
Interestingly, physicians have also been advising against travel to south Asian countries and also countries like South Korea, Iran, Vietnam and Italy.“The situation is unsure, why take risks? We have advised patients to think twice before they head to these countries. It’s better to stay away especially if there are children and senior citizens travelling. They are people with less immunity,” said Dr G Gopalakrishna, physician.
Meanwhile, LocalCircles, India’s leading Community Social Media platform which conducted a survey on 40,000 people recently across Tier 1, 2 and 3 cities in India said, “While 10% said they have made bookings but might cancel them based on how the situation develops. 31% said they haven’t made bookings yet and will only book it based on how the entire situation develops.”
The travel agents also mentioned that several flights are also being cancelled which leaves them with no option but cancel bookings. For instance, service carrier Vistara will cancel 54 international flights next month, including on routes connecting Delhi with Bangkok and Singapore, amid weak demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak.