To our Windsong Clients Friends and family
No Doubt we have all heard through various media outlets how the Corona Virus is affecting everyone in the world. We cannot be complacent about the risk of the virus however we can try and put a bit of truth and sensibility about the real impact of the virus to our travel plans.
Firstly the only two countries currently (as at time of writing) that there are warnings not to travel to are China and Iran. For those travelling to Iran and China in the next few weeks the measures have been put into place for you to receive full refunds or credit towards your future travel (depending on the policy of the tour company). In other words, you won’t be financially disadvantaged as a result.
For any passengers travelling to the rest of the world, currently the Australian government and the country of your destination has not placed any restrictions on your travel arrangements in regards to Corona Virus . All countries other than China and Iran are deemed safe to travel to without significant risk of contracting the Corona virus.
The impact of no travel warnings is that airlines and tour companies will charge the normal cancellation or change fees as per their conditions of carriage.
Travel Insurance in most cases will not cover cancellation or change fees as they will deem the cancellation or change fees to be voluntary on your behalf.
At Windsong Travel we are monitoring this situation as closely as possible as we know there is much concern about “should or shouldn’t I travel” from our clientele. We are being advised by Dfat and WHO on the Corona virus and choosing not to be advised by the media. We are stating facts rather than media headlines regarding advising our clients of the current situation which in all but a few places in the world is… business as usual.
Our policy for our staff travel within Windsong Travel is that its business as usual. I have just come back from Botswana Zambia and South Africa and there was no sign of any impact of the virus other than a few masks at the airport. My concerns in Africa were Malaria, the plague and Yellow fever and flying in small helicopters and light planes. Montana has just returned from Thailand yesterday and the only sign she saw was the temperature monitoring at the airport and masks. Her concerns in Thailand were the crazy traffic and Malaria. Windsong Travel had staff at the Gold coast and Sydney over the weekend, where there is currently cases of Corona virus and they saw no impact at all on their weekend stays. I’m off to Egypt and Jordan next week with a group and other than an extra bottle of hand sanitiser I’m happy and eager to explore that amazing part of the world without fear.
We know there is real concern over the impact of the Corona virus to many of your current travel plans. Please know we are monitoring the situation closely and will act appropriately to the facts and advice of the appropriate professional bodies. We have had similar situations in the past with Bird Flu, Swine Flu and SARS which all created the same concerns. In my past experience if a place is deemed to be unsafe all tour companies airlines accommodation etc will immediately suspend all operations and refunds will follow. My personal advice is lets just wait and see what unravels and know we will act accordingly.
Lastly a wise quote I heard from someone very close to me …
“if you turn off the television the world is a beautiful place”
Regards
Windsong Travel
James Cracknell
Owner
