Coronavirus shouldn’t disrupt your holiday plans – in fact, it could open up new destinations

Airlines are redeploying planes to other exciting places, writes Cathy Adams

Would it help if I said I’m booking (currently very cheap) flights to Hong Kong for later this year? (AFP)

Being a travel editor is both a blessing and a curse. In the past week, as the Covid-19 coronavirus has spread through Europe, colleagues, friends and people I barely know have asked me the same question: “Should I cancel my holiday to x destination because of the virus?”

The answer, unless you’re bound for one of the 11 isolated towns in Italy, the two “special care zones” in South Korea, or mainland China (to which the Foreign Office has advised against all travel) is: no – but it’s not a bad idea to take hand sanitiser.

The idea of travelling during a global pandemic (which is increasingly what Covid-19 looks like) isn’t easy to stomach, but travel is about keeping the risks in perspective. There is no practical reason for holidaymakers to cancel a much-anticipated trip just because their plane is transiting via a country that has a confirmed case – not least because insurance firms are extremely unlikely to refund their trip.

For starters, travellers to any country – coronavirus or no coronavirus – should always take necessary precautions to protect themselves. That could be arranging appropriate travel insurance, figuring out whether local mosquitoes pose any malaria risk or not using unlicensed taxis. The list could go on forever. There are always going to be risks everywhere you go – every time you walk out of your front door, in fact. In general, the world has never been a safer or more welcoming place; and most places British holidaymakers want to travel to are low-risk.

We’ve kept these risks in perspective in our coverage of coronavirus and how it’s affecting travellers, eschewing shrill headlines about the risk of infection, instead being straight with readers about their options if they do want to change their plans. But while we have a responsibility to lay out the facts and risks of travel objectively, it’s ultimately up to you to decide the level of risk you’re comfortable with. Would it help if I said I’m booking (currently very cheap) flights to Hong Kong for later this year?

For travellers, coronavirus brings unexpected opportunities. Airlines are redeploying the flights they have cancelled to northern Italy, mainland China and South Korea to other destinations: British Airways, for example, announced this week more flights from the UK to Bengaluru, one of India’s most exciting cities, as well as Cape Town, Miami and Seattle.

Rather than staying at home in fear, I’d encourage readers to go out and discover new places. As my colleague Simon Calder wrote in a column earlier this week: “Going on holiday enriches your spirit and understanding of the world. And cheers you up.”

Yours,

Cathy Adams

Travel editor