Some in BR canceling, altering trips to Mexico

• By STEVEN WARD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Apr 29, 2009 - Page: 7A

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People using Baton Rouge travel agencies for scheduled trips to Mexico are making their own decisions about canceling trips due to the swine flu outbreak.

Melanie Williams, a travel consultant with Gulf South Travel Inc., said two Baton Rouge women slated Sunday to leave for Cabo San Lucas canceled their trip Tuesday.

“And it’s not a fear of getting the flu, but they are worried about getting the flu in Mexico and possibly getting detained or quarantined,” Williams said.

None of Pearson’s Travel World’s clients with planned trips to Mexico have canceled their vacations, said Jerry Pearson, owner of the agency.

“Where our people are going, there’s not really a problem,” Pearson said.

JoAnn Bowman, owner of Travel Leaders, said many of her clients who booked trips through her Baton Rouge agency to Mexico have called to cancel, but she has been able to redirect their vacations to other locations. “We just moved them somewhere else. If they wanted to be on the beach, we could move them to Jamaica or St. Thomas,” Bowman said.

Others, Bowman said, have not canceled their Mexico trips.

“We had someone leave today for Mexico. And a lady who has a honeymoon planned in August is not changing her plans,” Bowman said.

Nationally, the travel trends have been the same.

Travel experts from Tripology.com were booking clients to a variety of alternative destinations. Jon Haraty, a Tripology expert from Jon’s Dive & Travel Services in East Longmeadow, Mass., said he sent clients who were considering Cancun to Barbados instead. Cathy Jackson from Sunsational Vacations in Jackson, N.J., rebooked a Mexico cancellation to Miami. And Barbara Gomez, a Tripology travel expert based in Green Lane, Pa., said: “I am not taking any chances. I am offering Jamaica or Punta Cana (in the Dominican Republic) to my clients as an alternative.”

Sallie Rawlings, spokeswoman for Travel Impressions, a travel wholesaler, said hotels with facilities in both Mexico and the Caribbean were switching customers from Mexican resorts to their island resorts.

But not every traveler is looking for a generic beach vacation.

Victor Emanuel Nature Tours of Austin, Texas, is going ahead with a 10-day bird-watching trip to Chiapas, Mexico, in May.