As North Korea Crisis Eases, Industry Sees Little Damage

The recent escalation of tensions between North Korea and the U.S. has stirred considerable unease among travel agents’ Asia-bound clients. But even before North Korea backed off its threat to fire missiles at Guam, agents and suppliers said the crisis had little impact on bookings.

“We haven’t seen any changes. Our Asia business grew more than 30% last year, and it shows no signs of stopping,” said Alison Hickey, president of Kensington Tours, a Toronto-based tour operator that specializes in privately guided trips.

Brett Tollman, CEO of The Travel Corporation, said so far the firm’s tour brands had experienced no fallout from the volatile situation. Tollman added that so long as U.S.-North Korea tensions don’t escalate beyond words he didn’t anticipate a problem for travel. “If we start mobilizing or moving ships to that area then I think it’s going to get really nasty for all of us.”

Catherine Heald, co-founder and CEO of the Asia tour specialist Remote Lands, said the firm had not had any cancellations or received any calls from agents about North Korea. One traveler who just returned from South Korea had been hesitant about going but was happy she went, Heald said.

At Seabourn, senior vice president Chris Austin said the luxury cruise line was experiencing no negative impact “at the moment.”

Eric Kareus, co-owner of the tour firm Asia Transpacific Journeys, said unease around the North Korea situation was affecting the logistics of getting to Asia. “We’ve had a lot of people express concerns about even flying through Seoul or using any of the Korean-based airlines, particularly Korean Air and Asiana. They would prefer a different routing.”

Several travel agents said the North Korea situation was one of several factors driving increased interest in travel to North American destinations right now.

“People are nervous right now. It’s not as bad as when we had the terrorist attacks in Europe a few years ago. But definitely business has shifted to the U.S.,” said Alex Ramsey, president of All Aboard Travel in Dallas.

While Asia has never been a huge destination for All Aboard Travel, last year Ramsey noticed growing interest in the region. “Before Trump, we were seeing more interest from Dallas in Asia, Bali, Singapore.” Now that interest has dried up, she said.

One travel agency that has experienced fallout from the North Korea crisis is Coastline Travel Advisors in Garden Grove, CA. “We haven’t lost business, but we’ve had to move people. We’ve had people planning cruises to Japan or China, and they didn’t want to be in the crosshairs, so they decided to go somewhere else,” Coastline Travel president Jay Johnson told Travel Market Report.

Asia had been a “every hot” destination for the firm, but in the past month bookings to all of the region dropped off, he said. “Our business to Japan is pretty much gone; it’s just not there. That was a big destination, and now it’s soft.”

Most clients who had been thinking of going to Asia are putting off booking those trips, said Johnson. The nature of their concerns is reflected in comments like, ” ‘I don’t want to be there if there’s a war,’ or, ‘I’m worried about missiles going off-target and blowing us up,’ or, ‘I don’t want to be over there if something happens and not be able to get back.’ “

Amy Rectenwald, a travel advisor for Largay Travel, had clients who were heading to Seoul for a last-minute business trip and decided to add a trip to China with Abercrombie & Kent. That was in April, just as U.S.-North Korea tensions were heating up, and in the course of confirming the booking the client voiced alarm over the situation. “They went, but she was crazy nervous,” Rectenwald said.

But travel advisor Bob Romano, CTC, a partner in Fugazi Travel in San Francisco, said he was hearing no such thing. “I just got a request for Vietnam. I have other bookings for Hong Kong, three requests for Japan. It’s all kind of normal,” Romano said.

More than a few industry members expressed their personal dismay over the escalating war of words between the U.S. and North Korea, along with their profound wish that the both sides would tone down the rhetoric. “It’s a very scary and very uncertain time. May calmer heads prevail,” said Tollman of The Travel Corporation.

This week, as North Korea backed off its threat of firing missiles toward Guam, it appeared Tollman’s wish had been granted. For now.

Doug Gollan contributed to this report.