Ban or no ban, tours canceled as travel agencies take lead

Many travel agencies have decided to cancel group tours to Britain, the United States and Egypt, even though the Hong Kong government has not slapped travel bans on these countries.

Hong Thai Travel said because of the pandemic, it canceled tours set to depart this month to the United States, Britain, Egypt, Spain and Portugal, along with eight countries in western Europe, 16 in eastern Europe and five in northern Europe.

Morning Star Travel canceled all tours to Europe and Egypt until March 31.

Wing On Travel said all tour groups to Europe this month will be canceled, except for those traveling to Britain and northern Europe.

WWPKG suspended tour groups to Europe - except Turkey - until the end of the month.

The agencies met with the Travel Industry Council yesterday to discuss the arrangement of outbound tours as more and more countries were hit by the coronavirus.

Tourism sector lawmaker Yiu Si-wing said travel agencies could not reach a consensus on canceling tours as there was no travel alert to some destinations.

Some customers want to drop out but airlines may not agree to a refund, while some customers still want to depart on schedule, so it is difficult for travel agencies to establish a clear approach, he said.

Sun Wah Travel Service's general manager, Johnny So Tsz-yeung, said on radio the industry decided to proactively suspend tours without waiting for government action following a meeting with the council on Wednesday.

He said his agency has no outbound tours now, but some agencies plan to suspend some tours departing in mid-March to mid-April.

Customers have been seeking to withdraw from the tours, especially to Europe.

"We will make the decision based on our judgment. For places with high risks, we will not go there," So said. "We are facing a big problem. If the Security Bureau announces quarantine measure or a red travel alert but the tour has already departed, we will need to work on the arrangement for customers to return to Hong Kong."

He added: "If they may have to be put under quarantine after coming back, then we will have much more work to do."

So said long-haul tours like European holidays go through different countries so it will be difficult for agencies to rearrange return flights if a travel ban is suddenly imposed.

Up to yesterday, Hong Kong has issued red travel alerts to Egypt, the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte and Grand Est regions in France, the North Rhine-Westphalia region in Germany, the La Rioja, Madrid and Pais Vasco regions in Spain, Iran, Italy, Hokkaido in Japan and South Korea.

Meanwhile, India suspended visa applications for overseas visitors from today until April 15. All existing visas, except permission given for diplomatic, official, United Nations or other international organizations, employment and project visas, will be suspended.

sophie.hui@singtaonewscorp.com