“If you’re looking to make a booking, I probably wouldn’t”: West Vic travel agent

The ripples from the war in the Middle East - which has led to airport closures in key transit destinations such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi - have reached Nic Bolden, the owner of  Helloworld Travel Warrnambool.

Big outlay, big worry: West Vic travel agents are fielding calls from travellers who had pre-booked flights to the Middle East, or to transit through enroute to Europe, as well as hotel rooms and tours. 

“People are concerned and expect that they may have additional payments to make on cruises or tours, and they’re reluctant to make the payments because they don't know whether this is going to last one week or one year, nobody does,” Bolden said.

“So there's a lot of problems for the people in the travel industry, because they don't know what's going to happen in the future.”

Concerned travellers: Although Egypt was growing in popularity as a travel destination, Bolden said his business had been “sort of lucky”, as Europe’s peak season did not kick off until April or May.

His advice for people wanting to travel to Europe in the near future was to try and book a flight with an Asian stopover. 

Alternatives can be costly: Bolden said people who were due to fly with Dubai’s state carrier Emirates would be given “waivers up until the end of March on cancellation penalties on your flights, so you could be able to get a refund on your airline ticket”.

“The trouble with that is, if you're still going to go on the holiday, then an alternative flight might not be $2,000, it might be $6,000, because the other airlines are either extremely full, sold out and or cashing in on the circumstances.”

He said he’d never seen a standard travel insurance policy that covers acts of war.

The latest travel advice from the Australian government is available here.