Has SARS effected your travels to SEA?
 

Just out of curiosity, has the recent SARS effected your travels to south east asia? I know for a fact, HK, China &amp; S'pore are seriously effected but Malaysia, Thailand &amp; Indonesia are pretty well controlled. But I'm hearing many cases of tourist/travellers cancelling their trips to this sector.<BR><BR>Whats your opinion?<BR><BR>

hi.i was going to book my tickets for a trip to beijing, cambodia and singapore last week, but the sars virus has stop my plans. im not going before august, so i will wait to see how things work out...i had hong-kong on my travel plans, but i think people should stay away from that place now, 6 people did<BR>die there last day....i have not heard how things are in cambodia..the norwegian travel agent for china are cancelling all of the trips they have for eastern..

My long-planned and long-awaited trip to Hong Kong and Malaysia, celebrating my 50th birthday, is still almost a year away, so I'm lucky to still have plenty of time to wait and see how things develop.<BR><BR>If I had planned to travel to those countries in the next few weeks I would certainly be re-thinking my schedule now. <BR><BR>However, I think it's important to keep a sense of perspective and would be interested to see any comparisons between SARS and common pheumonia or even flu, with regard to rates of recovery, fatalities, how contagious it is, etc. I know that SARS is very new and that, until we see how rapidly it carries on spreading, it's sensible to exercise caution, but OTH panic seems to be spreading far more quickly than the disease itself at the moment. I'm not trying to make light of it by any means - just wanting to try and view it as part of the bigger picture.

no plans to cancel/postpone individual travel to saigon this june, except to avoid layovers in hong kong or taipei. am still watching situation and have not made plane reservations yet.

SARS is the latest in a series of obstacles to deciding to go forward on a June trip to Bali. Last September, we cashed in FF miles for our airline tickets--United was not in bankruptcy then. In October, a bomb in the Kuta section of Bali killed 200 people. A month ago we went to war with Iraq. At present the US government has a warning against travel to all of Indonesia. We still plan to go...

Well, sounds like most of you have some of my way of thinking about the whole SARS thing. My husband and I are leaving for Bangkok on May 13th - 4 nights there, then 5 nights in Bali and 3 nights in Hong Kong. Crazy? Yes, most people will agree. But I look at the statistics of people dying from the flu and other similar illnesses and I just can't see cancelling our trip that I have spent so much of my time (and money) on, even though we have trip insurance. So, the worse will be wearing a mask every now and then. I could deal with that. I think as long as we don't let anyone breath or cough in our faces, wear our masks on airplanes and airports, wash our hands every ten minutes (a little humor here) and just be cautious, we should be fine. I mean seriously, what are the chances of getting this, and what are the chances of dying from it. The way I see it, just about as good as the flu. Don't get me wrong, I am not encouraging anyone to keep their travel plans, this is just my little opinion.

Yvette - that's a very ambitious itinerary with a lot of flying time. Note that many flights are being cancelled. United announced today that it is extending its flight reductions through May. I expect that others will do the same--check with your airline. As I said above, our trip is not until late June so we are hoping that our flights are not cancelled--our scheduled trans-Pacific flights are two of those not operating right now.

I returned (healthy, thank goodness) from SIN in mid March, and have booked a trip to HKG in Jan 2004. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that SARS is under control by then, as it will be my first time to HKG. <BR><BR>I imagine that I'll still make the trip next year, but have been trying to keep an eye on it from here...Generally, I'd guess that many, many people with non-essential travel are cancelling.<BR><BR>Best wishes.

SARS has definitely been on our minds, much more so than the war since my wife and I will be leaving at the end of May for Bangkok with our kids for two months. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they either find a cure before then, or at least determine what it is and how it is passed. Barring that, we intend to minimize our visits to crowed areas, have cut out side trips to Beijing and HK , will wash or sanitize our hands frequently, and generally be a little more cautious about eating out- no handmade popsicles from the lady at the market, etc. But in the great scheme of things, we figure the chances of getting run over by a motorcycle taxi, fouling our lungs from exhaust fumes while riding a tuk tuk, or any of the other things which are part of everyday life are far greater. So why not travel and enjoy. SARS is already in this country so staying might be just as risky. One last thought: having spent a considerable amount of time last summer at Bumrungrad Hospital after our son broke his arm, we can attest to the fact that at least this hospital is modern, comfortable, well staffed, and very affordable if the need should arise. Not only were many doctors english-speaking and trained in europe, the food outlets were actually decent- unlike some here in the US.

SARS is definitely challenging my plans for the summer. I am participating in Semester at Sea and the planned itinerary is for the Pacific Rim. There is an alternative route to hit the South Pacific, but they haven't made a definite decision about changing and say they are going to stick with it. I am only concerned because one of our first ports is Russia and we have to get a visa, I just don't want to spend the money if we aren't going to go. Plus, planning for the Pacific Rim and the South Pacific are going to take completely different mindsets. But thank goodness that found out the cause of the virus, this can only be a good sign for things to come. I am keeping my fingers crossed!!

Well, I'm due to leave on a round the world trip in November. I have the ticket and there's nothing gonna stop me. Been waiting a long time and there will always be something to put you off. Japan is first, it's still all clear there, then to HK, Thailand, Singapore, OZ, New Zealand then over to the US (as long as we're still alive!).<BR><BR>Safe travels<BR><BR>Sonia

For a good list of URL's which will route you to current info on SARS, go to<BR>http://www.johnnyjet.com/SARSLINKS.html<BR>

I will be travelling to Australia via Japan this October. I know Japan doesn't have any reported SARS cases yet, however I don't think that I would change my plans even if there were. we have been waiting for this trip for quite some time, and it would be a shame to postpone it. I guess we all just have to take extra safety precautions when travelling to these highly affected (SARS) countries. <BR>Happy and safe travelling.<BR>AM

Here's an update on Malaysia. So far to date, there has only been one death related to SARS and seven confirmed cases(4 are non-local). We recently opened travel restrictions from HK, China and S'pore after a 1 week halt.<BR><BR>People are still going by the everyday thing with only 5% of the population in the city actually wearing masks. Tourist are still seen wandering the city and yes there has been a very shard drop in the travel industry.<BR><BR><BR>Good luck and best wishes,<BR>KL_Guy<BR><BR>

We're flying home to Malaysia on Monday, hoping for an empty flight (via Hong Kong on Cathay) so we can stretch out! <BR><BR>I've heard the people in Hong Kong think it's a big joke.<BR><BR>As they've been saying, you need extended contact to get the disease, and nobody has gotten it sitting on a plane. And according to stats you have a greater chance of getting hit by a car and killed than contracting and dying from SARS.<BR><BR>Malaysia almost buggered themselves, not allowing tourists in from affected countries, but they just revoked the ruling the other day. <BR><BR>Just another case of the media going haywire, IMHO.

My travel to SEA isn't until November. I already have tickets into Bangkok (which hasn't yet been affected) and am then headed for Burma (no data from them).<BR><BR>I'm certainly not making any changes in my plans at this point.<BR><BR>I find the cdc website a great source of info on SARS, and it has links to other websites, including WHO.<BR><BR>Jenner, by the way, there have been instances of people catching SARS on an airplane (most notably, a flight within China). Generally, the zone of contagion appears to be two rows in either direction. (that doesn't mean you'll get it if you're within two rows, but that is the &quot;danger zone&quot; for droplets from coughing or sneezing)

My Mom and I were scheduled to fly to China on 2 May. We were set to go while family and friends said &quot;don't!&quot; The final decision came from the tour company who postponed our trip. We'll go next year. In a way I was glad someone else made the decision for us. <BR><BR>I was able to work out a completely new trip within 2 days and we're off on 8 May to Barcelona for a couple of days before boarding our cruise around the Med. We're very excited, but we are disappointed about missing out on our China trip this year.

sheesh, heard on radio yesterday 12 ppl in HK passed away in one day due to SARS :(. <BR><BR>I honestly hope someone finds a cure for it soon.<BR><BR>

Sorry, Jenner, but you are WRONG about having to have extensive contact to catch the SARS virus. A Pennsylvania man became afflicted with SARS after visiting a business associate in Toronto. They were together for one hour. You should stop giving people misinformation about SARS, which the medical community knows very little about.

I was to have left tomorrow on a 14 day tour to China. Not going - very disappointed.