Where on Earth can we go?

By STEVE HART

New Zealanders are facing unsettling times. Just as everything started returning to normal after September 11, the war in Iraq rumbled into life, causing people to think twice about booking a holiday.

As travellers started to look rationally at the situation and make plans to get away, the Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus appeared, almost out of nowhere. Now, the general feeling tends to be "we all know where the bombs are dropping - but an invisible virus that could kill, that's another matter". It's easy to overreact.

Last week the Ministry of Health extended its travel advice on Sars, a pneumonia-type illness, to all of mainland China including Hong Kong as well as Singapore, Taiwan and Hanoi, Vietnam.

Last week the World Health Organisation put the cases of Sars at close to 2300 in 20 countries, with more than 80 people dying as a result of Sars. The greatest increase is in Hong Kong - the most severely affected area outside mainland China.

For the first time in its history, WHO is recommending people avoid an area due to health risks. It says people should postpone travel to Hong Kong and Guongdong Province in southern China, across the border from Hong Kong.

Cases of Sars have appeared in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and in Australia a British tourist who developed Sars has recovered..

Officials in New Zealand say it is probably only a matter of time before someone here is diagnosed with it.

Current trend:

But is the publicity over Sars changing traditional holiday trends? The short answer is yes.

Clare Naden, spokeswoman for Flight Centre, says people are steering away from holidays in places where Sars is prevalent.

"From the package-deal side, the trend seems to be that people are definitely delaying or cancelling trips to Hong Kong and Singapore because of Sars," she said. "Inquiries for these destinations are down. People going to Europe via Hong Kong or Singapore are asking to go by another route."

However, she says bookings for short-haul breaks to places such as the Pacific and Australia are strong and availability is filling quickly.

Air New Zealand announced a string of "one-off" cancellations of 21 services to Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Japan for May and June.

At the end of March the airline saw a 5 to 20 per cent drop in forward bookings for the Japan and Hong Kong routes and a softening in the North American market when compared with the same period last year.

In a statement the company said people who had been scheduled to fly on the cancelled services will be booked on the next available flight to the same destination and will be notified by their travel agent.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways and Qantas have also reduced flights to some Asian destinations.

Singapore Airlines has cut 125 services a week, which amounts to 13.6 per cent of its passenger-carrying capacity.

Re-booking:

HOLIDAY-MAKERS faced with arriving at destinations late because of cancelled flights will be helped by their travel agent, who will re-book hotels and tour packages.

"It is up to each hotel whether they charge a fee to change someone's booking but we have found that most are good about it so customers shouldn't be out of pocket by having to change," said Naden.

But for those who cancel their bookings, there may be a charge that travel agents have to pass on which may not be covered by travel insurance.

"In general the industry is great about situations like this but agents are at the mercy of what the airlines and hotels do."

Travel insurance:

Travel insurance is one protection but while cancellation insurance in the case of war cover has never been available, what about cancelling because of a health risk such as Sars?

Fiona Hewitt at Mike Henry Insurance says people who bought travel insurance from them before April 3 will be covered for costs involved in altering, delaying or cancelling their holidays to destinations such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Medical bills related to Sars will also be covered.

Mike Henry policies bought after April 2 will not cover any medical costs related to Sars in contagious regions, but will cover the cost of treatment elsewhere in the world.

For example, if someone goes to Hong Kong and contracts Sars they will not be covered for potentially huge medical expenses if they bought their policy on or after April 3. But other medical conditions would be covered. Other travel insurance companies, such as Southern Cross, have followed suit.

Buying travel insurance over the internet from companies operating in Europe may be a way of obtaining full medical cover, but check policy restrictions before buying. Insurance companies are altering their policies as events develop.

Risk:

Dr David Millar of Knomad, the online travel health specialist, says the risk of anyone contracting Sars is "way under 1 per cent of the number of people travelling to Sars areas".

"Having said that, what people need to ask themselves is, 'If I get sick abroad can I handle being in quarantine in a foreign country?'

"People who get Sars abroad will be stuck there because no airline will want to carry them, no one will want them, there will be no emergency evacuation groups offering to get them out. There will be a lengthy hospital stay, in isolation, in a foreign country. That's what people should consider."

Where to now?

So with a handful of destinations potentially off the travel map, where are New Zealanders going for Easter? Rarotonga, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tahiti, Australia, Samoa, Tonga, all have availability so long as you are flexible, says Naden. There are also parts of Asia that are not included in the ministry's Sars travel advisory, such as Thailand and Malaysia.

Travel agents should advise customers on the risks of travelling to Sars-infected destinations and make it clear insurance will not cover them as comprehensively as it did. There will be no "specials" or cut-price offers to Sars areas as the travel industry feels price is not an issue. In fact, getting flights could soon be the biggest restriction to travel.

Taking stock:

Stand back, take a deep breath and you'll see that Sars, terrorism and war aren't stopping millions of people travelling every day. Life is going on. But people are perhaps more cautious and a little more choosy about where they go.

New Zealanders are still travelling to Britain, Europe and America. People still have the chance of enjoying fabulous holidays. And despite official warnings on terrorism, people are returning to Bali. But this is not the time be complacent.

The bottom line is that any type of travel involves risk. There are degrees of risk and what might be acceptable to one person may not suit another. It's all down to choices. And if travelling abroad doesn't appeal right now, then what better country is there to explore than New Zealand?

Who is at risk:

Dr David Millar, of Knomad, says people aged 40 and over, and who have pre-existing lung or heart problems, should consider deferring non-essential travel to Guandong and Hong Kong.

No cases have been reported as a direct result of air travel and airline staff are screening travellers before flights from infected areas. Some airlines are handing out face masks to staff and passengers.

Reduce your risk:

* Avoid hospitals (for instance visiting friends/family) in any affected centres.

* Minimise exposure to crowded or poorly ventilated areas in Hong Kong and Guangdong.

* Take extra care with personal hygiene; wash hands well, do not share cups and eating utensils.

* Be aware of the possibility of Sars in any friends or family.

*There is no vaccination against Sars.

* Infected areas are Toronto, Singapore, Beijing, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Shanxi, Taiwan Province and Hanoi. There is a local chain of transmission in these areas.

It is worth remembering that in Australia about 1000 people will lose their lives to influenza this year and tens of thousands of people will be infected with it. By comparison the number of cases of Sars is small.


www.who.int

www.knomad.co.nz

www.qbe.com.au