World events change Travel agents and airlines are reporting cancellations and postponements of travel to Asia from Hawaii because of fears of a mysterious, potentially fatal illness and a possible war with Iraq.
isle travel plans
State alert level raisedBy Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.comOutbound travel from Hawaii to the mainland has also been affected by war fears, but travel agents report so far that most trips to Las Vegas, Disneyland and other popular spring break destinations have not been canceled.
"We are getting a lot of cancellations or postponements (of trips to China)," said Savio Pang of Regency Tours and Travel, which specializes in travel to China. "Yesterday (Monday) when we first came back, the phone is ringing off the hook."
Pang said most of his customers are either postponing trips or rescheduling to other destinations such as Europe or Australia.
He also books trips to Hawaii from Southeast Asia, and those bookings and requests for information are down by more than 50 percent in the last week and a half because of war concerns.
On the other hand, Pang said he is trying to take his family on a vacation to California and Las Vegas next week, but is having trouble finding hotel rooms in San Francisco, Anaheim and Las Vegas because of increased demand.
An Iolani School band trip for 53 students and chaperones to play at the Great Wall of China during spring break and an East-West Center trip for seven journalists to China are among the groups that have postponed or canceled trips to Asia.
As of yesterday, Iolani School put all school travel on hold, including a college tour to the East Coast and a track team trip to Seattle scheduled to leave at the end of the week.
"They're really disappointed, but they know their safety is more important right now," said Cathy Lee Chong, a spokeswoman for Iolani School.
She said the school is trying to work with travel companies to get full or partial refunds or reschedule the trips.
Kamehameha Schools has canceled a trip by its orchestra to New York in June and July, said spokesman Kekoa Paulsen. But other spring break trips to the mainland have not been affected.
But for the most part, local travel agents report most independent and group trips to Las Vegas still plan to take those trips.
"They (Hawaii residents) will go down dying throwing dice," said Wesley Okamoto, the administrative manager for Panda Travel, one of the larger travel agencies in Hawaii. "They're going to take their chances and they're going to go."
Okamoto said March is usually one of the busier months for Panda Travel, but business is down slightly.
"The pending war and now this latest outbreak of the flu -- it hasn't helped sales much," he said.
Japan Airlines regional sales manager Gilbert Kimura said the airline had a group of 19 people and a group of 20 people that canceled or rescheduled trips to Hong Kong, and some individuals have also decided not to travel in the next week.
"We have a lot of concerned people. ... It's the unknown factor that's kind of putting fear in people," he said.
Those who reschedule the trips before the end of the year should be able to do so without charges, Kimura said. The airline is still evaluating what to do about cancellation fees for those who do not reschedule.
