CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Fears of the COVID-19 coronavirus are impacting the travel industry and local businesses who are involved in travel, like travel agencies. They said many travelers are canceling their trips out of panic.
"I had three cancellations today," said Pamala Lewis Watson, owner of the Travel Store Agency. "One to Disney, one to San Diego, and then one to, well, Costa Rica. Out of the country. So it's impacting my agency."
Many other local travel agencies like Watson's are also being impacted by the coronavirus.
"It has had a dramatic effect on our business. We've had a lot of activity with clients that are booking cruises and travelling that are wanting to postpone them," Mark Johnstone, president of the Sandborne Travel Agency. "It's really sad because it's a trickle down effect, because it affects hotels, it affects their employees, it affects restaurants, it affects the waiters, the servers. It affects a lot of different people. Uber drivers. It affects all the way down the line."
Although agencies are being impacted by the virus, some local travelers have been faced with a tough decision, some even having to cancel their trips because of the risks involved at their destination.
"We were in denial just waiting to see what was going to happen," Jessica Holt said. "We were hoping it was going to clear up, and then we started to get a little nervous once they were shutting down areas, putting things in lockdown."
Holt was planning on leaving to Italy for her honeymoon next week.
"It was stressful. Once we made the decision I think a weight was lifted off our shoulders and it was the right decision. We can't even get in the country now," Holt said. "We potentially would've had to be quarantined if we went, so this was probably the best decision we could've made."
Despite their decision to cancel the trip, Holt said they are still rooting for all of the businesses, including travel agencies, to pull through the recent decline.
"Everything from the tours that we book down to the restaurants we eat at, everything's going to be affected, so I'm really hoping that all these little places that we love to go to will be able to pull through," Holt said.
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