The Coronavirus outbreak has taken a toll on bookings, making them slower than expected during peaks. AITO and PATA UK & Ireland addressed trade concerns.
Bookings have been slower than expected during peaks due to worldwide concern over Coronavirus outbreaks, according to AITO and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) UK & Ireland.
Derek Moore, chairman of AITO, in a statement, said: "Following a good level of bookings for 2020 in December and January, bookings have understandably slowed down due to the growing concern over Coronavirus worldwide. With a little or no idea as to how soon Coronavirus will be under control, all AITO members have decided to wait and help each other out."
He explained that most AITO operators with destinations directly affected are running on a rolling three-week plan, meaning they are not looking at cancelling or amending any booked departures more than three weeks ahead. Rather, they are handling things in date order. For bookings less than three weeks away, if the airlines are flying and the DMCs and hoteliers can operate the holidays, then normal booking conditions will apply. Clients who cancel will be subject to usual terms and conditions.
All AITO operators will follow the FCO travel advice. If it says ?Don?t travel,? then full refunds will be made. Those who have booked their own flights and accommodations will be on their own.
The travel industry hopes cooperation and assistance from the governments involved since they are controlling lock-down zones and overall management of the situation in their destinations.
No need to panic, says PATA
Meanwhile, PATA UK & Ireland has confirmed bookings are still coming through.
Reassuring that the Asian travellers need not panic, Chris Crampton, PATA UK & Ireland chairman, said: ?Travellers to Pacific Asia are not encouraged or advised to cancel their travel plans as the situation is largely under control with excellent screening and preventative measures in place. The FCO is currently advising against all travel to Hubei Province, and against all but essential travel to the rest of mainland China. They are also advising against all but essential travel to the cities of Daegu and Cheongdo in South Korea.
"The FCO is not advising against travel to any other country/territory in the PATA region as a result of coronavirus risks at this time but we recommend following the FCO travel advice closely for the relevant country you're selling. We will continue to carefully monitor the situation and provide ongoing updates.
"We advise agents to take travel advice from factual, reliable and official sources such as PATA and our members, more information can be found on our news pages. Follow the news and advice from members to reassure customers as they are able to provide the latest and inside information. Updates are also being shared on our website and social media too, including Facebook and Twitter.
?Our members, particularly tourism boards, report the situation to be plateauing with fewer new cases being reported outside of China and Korea. Preventive measures were put in place very quickly which has largely contained the situation within Asia and ongoing strict screening measures and travel restrictions are working well.?
Tour operator partners are reporting few cancellations, largely travellers are requesting to change their travel dates to later in the year. New bookings have been slower than expected during peaks, however, bookings are still coming through and largely for later in the year.
PATA UK & Ireland has received positive feedback from the agent members. Customers are interested in and booking holidays to New Zealand and Australia. Bali and Thailand still have a lot of interest, so as the Philippines.
PATA events are going ahead as planned with the first agent quiz night of 2020 in Birmingham on March 24.
?We encourage the industry to attend our PATA events which will go ahead as planned including PATA Exchange ??on March 9 attracting more than 75 Pacific Asia region sellers. These are opportunities to work together as a team and support one another to minimise the effects on sales as little as possible.?
