Travelers Remain Calm In Face of Ebola Crisis

Even as the fast-moving Ebola health crisis continues to dominate news headlines, travel agencies are reporting little impact on both leisure and corporate travel. For the most part, clients are behaving in a way that one travel executive called “calm and reasonable.”

“As far as people telling us they don’t want to travel because of Ebola, or expressing concern, or wanting to change their plans, we haven’t had any,” said Dan Ilves, CTC, MCC, vice president of sales and marketing for Los Angeles-based TravelStore, a Signature affiliate.

A spokeswoman at AAA’s national headquarters, said, “at this point the concern level is fairly low. We have been getting some questions, but minimal.”

Even in Texas—where two healthcare workers contracted Ebola after treating the first U.S. patient to die of the virus—travelers have not be alarmed, agents said.

Few inquiries
“People are not changing their travel plans. People are not canceling. People are generally not even bringing it up,” said Terry Denton, president of Travel Leaders / Main Street Travel in Fort Worth, Tex.
 
Denton surveyed his agents about concerns over Ebola just last week. “I think I had one person raise the issue, and that was a pretty inexperienced traveler.”

The agency did receive one inquiry from a client who was traveling in southern Africa.

“They were curious if they were going to have trouble coming back into the country, because they’d heard it in the news,” Denton said.

Biz travel view
Corporate travel has been largely unaffected as well, said travel management companies.

“The Ebola issue, specifically the Ebola issue that is affecting the U.S., has had a minimal impact,” said Tim Husted, senior director of traveler services for Carlson Wagonlit Travel. “We haven’t seen any significant impact in business traveler behavior.”

Agency response
Travel agencies’ responses to the Ebola situation depends on the nature of their business. Corporate travel agencies tend to be more proactive than leisure travel sellers in communicating with their clients. (See sidebar.)

“The media has caused so much fear, mentioning it at all only makes the panic worse. We’re not opening that can of worms,” said Susan Berman, president and CEO of leisure agency Berman Travel in Ventnor, N.J. The agency is a member of The Affluent Traveler Collection.

“If people come to us and ask about Ebola, we’re happy to give them the facts,” Berman said. “I point them to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) so they can read an official statement and make their decision that way, or I ask them to contact their physicians.”

Just the facts
At Cadence, a Virtuoso agency in La Jolla, Calif., executive vice president Don Jones said his firm is handling concerns over Ebola in much the same way it addresses other potential travel disruptions.

“State the facts; state them to the people who need to hear them, and try to stay in front of the catastrophe,” he said. “As long as our customers feel informed, they’ve been very calm and reasonable.”

Cadence has been sending out regular updates about the Ebola threat to its corporate clients, drawing on the twice-daily briefings it receives from The Tzell Group, with which it is affiliated.

The agency has used more discretion in its communications with leisure clients. It advises its agents to send out information to clients only as needed, based on clients’ itineraries.

The CNN effect
Janice Adkins was among several agents who expressed frustration over the panic-inducing news coverage about Ebola, especially on CNN and Fox media outlets.

“They play it over and over, and it gets in people’s minds. It just drives me bonkers,” said Adkins, manager of Brevard Travel Agency, an Ensemble agency in Brevard, N.C.

Adkins, who is leading a cruise group to North Africa and Spain next month, said some of the less well-traveled members of the group had voiced concerns about possible airport closures and other travel problems in connection with the Ebola crisis.

She reassured them that airport closures are highly unlikely and that if the cruise line deems it necessary to avoid a particular cruise port, “then we would just miss that port.”

For her part, Adkins plans to make greater use of the antibacterial wipes she always carries with her.

“I don’t normally use them frequently. This time I will.”