Swine Flu and Student Travel
As a caring member of the student travel industry, it has been a torturous few days watching the development of the Swine Flu situation currently impacting North America. Over the last 24 hours, numerous school districts have cancelled school and school related activities in an effort to reduce or eliminate the spread of this virus throughout the very susceptible youth population. While these closures may be necessary, they are creating havoc with the thousands of student groups that are/were planning to travel over the next 14 days.
If you have ever booked a family vacation, you know that a great majority of funds are due at the time of booking and are largely nonrefundable. While group travel offers increased flexibility in payment schedules and cancellation terms, the general concept remains the same. From the time of booking until the departure date, the financial commitment of the group is constantly increasing. Depending on the nature of a trip, cancellation fees may reach 100% between 120 and 30 days prior to departure. For groups with travel planned in the next 30 days, this means that cancellation for any reason may result in the complete loss of funds.
In our current situation, when groups cancel their trips beyond the terms of their contracted cancellation policy, it is likely that they will receive little to no refund. As a Student Travel Operator, working on the behalf of school groups to negotiate optimal contract terms and pricing on their behalf, it is always difficult to explain this reality to our customers. The challenge comes in that fact that there is no “fault” on the behalf of any certain party:
- Tour operators have committed and forwarded funds to suppliers to ensure that they are prepared each for group
- Hotels, transportation providers, restaurants, and attractions have created work schedules and ordered the products and supplies necessary to meet the contracted demand
- Groups are forced to cancel by order of school administrators or health organizations
Unfortunately, these factors often result in the end client (students) sustaining the loss.
So…
While it is beyond me to question the judgment of school closures and travel bans, I do believe that the responsibility to stop this strain of the flu from becoming worse lies with individuals and families. The CDC and WHO have outlined clear guidelines for preventing the spread of the flu (all strains). Sadly, I know for a fact that a number of students from closed schools are treating this closure as a second spring break – socializing in groups throughout their communities.
With all of this in mind, I am begging adults and students alike. If you are ill – stay home (and please don’t use mass transit). If you cough or sneeze – do so into a tissue then wash your hands. In general, be courteous to your family and community and take every reasonable precaution.
This strain of the flu has an incubation period of 72+ hours from the time it is contracted until the first symptoms appear. After that, it is believed that an individual is contagious for 7+ days.
If everyone in affected areas took suggested precautions, limited contact with others this weekend, and stayed isolated for 7 days if infected, I imagine that it would greatly reduce the spread of the swine flu. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone owned-up to their social responsibility and we could all get back to business-as-usual next week?