There is good news from Sabre Holdings, which reports that business and leisure travelers are continuing to travel despite growing attention surrounding the H1N1 virus. Sabre says this indicates that travelers are not reacting with as much alarm as media reports may indicate.
Travel volumes recorded at Sabre Holdings show that, aside from the decline in travel to Mexico, business and leisure travel within the U.S. and to other parts of the world is currently holding steady.
Sam Gilliland, CEO of Sabre Holdings, said, “Travelers are still making rational travel decisions based on facts rather than hype. It’s critically important that travelers continue to refer to and follow advisories issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as their primary sources of information, and that the news media emphasize the advice of these organizations as well.
“It’s also important that people who report or comment on the developing health situation provide a perspective based upon science and fact rather than counterproductive alarm and fear. This situation clearly calls for pragmatic precaution, but not panic,” said Gilliland.
Travel agencies show similar findings with Sabre's clients.
"The vast majority of our clients remain on the road," said Jane Batio, president of CorpTrav, a Chicago-based travel management company with more than $180 million in annual air bookings. "We've only canceled six trips across our entire client base in the past week, and future bookings remain in sync with rebounding trends we've seen across the past two months."
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